Why not rule the galaxy?
by Alvor the Warhawk
Summary: What happens when a boy ends up in a modified kolto tank, survives a super soldier experiment, and then manages to secure one of if not the greatest conqueror to ever live as his teacher? Well, war of course. And training, lots and lots of training, not all his thankfully! After all, Coruscant wasn't sacked in a day!
1. The First of a Thousand Steps

**AN: Hello it's nice to meet you. As you can see, this is my first story, and the first chapter at that. As such, I want you to be as brutal as possible in reviews! I need to know where I screwed up, so that I can get better! I have two people who have agreed to beta, unfortunately one is a stoner and the other is kind of lazy. So, yeah... Anyways, this chapter is self edited and as such there will be errors. I also wish to note that this chapter will be heavily edited and changed once they get to it. Without further ado, here's my story! As a heads up, the first several chapters will be rather slow (need to train the boy before we throw him to wolves!) and it will be rather descriptive in the violence, especially later on.**

"Hello" is speech

'thoughts'

" **Henge** " will be techniques

" **Ningen** " will be anything with a voice of power (think echoing, demonic, etc.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing, Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto and Star Wars of Disney.

 **52 BBY Month 10**

Faster, he had to move faster. The man was chasing him. The villagers were always nasty, they never liked him, though he didn't know why. But, normally, the village's ninja generally treated him neutrally or just ignored him. Well, except for Jiji and some of the ANBU, but they were in the minority.

Naruto couldn't believe he had screwed up like this though. He _knew_ the man was drunk, he knew it, but he had been _so_ hungry. He loved Ichiraku's, he considered the two who owned the shop to be some of his most precious people, but ramen alone wasn't enough to live on. And the man had just left nearly his entire meal in the trash.

Of course, when the ninja had picked him up, he thought the worst that would happen was that he would be hit, but the man threw him out into the middle of the street instead. And there were just enough villagers, who were just drunk enough, and just bored enough to hold a round of "Fox Hunting".

And they did; chasing him for a while, some throwing garbage or rocks. Nothing too serious though. Just a few bruises, a busted nose, just enough blood to sate most of them. Yet the ninja had not been satisfied with just a bit of blood. The drunken shinobi ran the kid out of the village proper, towards the training grounds; no one would be there with the festival going on.

"You killed my wife you demon!"

"Please, I haven't hurt anyone." He whimpered. Just go away, just please let me run far enough. A forest! Maybe if he could get into the forest he could hide. The man was a ninja, but he was also drunk, and Naruto knew he was small.

"Fuck you, you monster!"

Naruto gasped as he felt something hit him in the arm. A kunai! The man was going to kill him, he had to get away!

After what felt like hours of running, he realized he couldn't hear the shinobi anymore. Naruto stood still and listened, waiting for the crack of a twig, a rustle of a bush, anything that would let him know he wasn't alone. Nothing, except the occasional bird and the insects all around him. However, he now realized he had no idea of where he was. He knew he was still in the village, that much was sure, but all he remembered was that the shinobi had chased in the general direction of the training grounds.

Sitting there, he let his mind drift back over his whole life. No one had ever tried to kill him before. On the worst days, always around if not on his birthday, he'd have rocks and garbage thrown at him. Usually the shinobi would either glare at him or smirk when he was hit with something. Whenever it got too bad ANBU would always force the violent civilians away, so it wasn't like he ever to deal with mobs.

Hell the worst thing that had happened was a year ago, when he left the hell hole everyone else called an orphanage, had been when a ten year old boy had gathered a bunch of his friends, convinced them to start a "fox hunt" and chased him for an hour or so before they got bored. He hadn't been hurt too badly and they had been great training for dodging projectiles so he really didn't mind too much. What was worse was when the drunks who had been encouraging them up to that point had been too far into their cups and decided to join in the fun. Naruto thanked every kami that was that the drunks had terrible aim.

He was scared then and he was scared now. Fighting back tears, he hadn't wept since he was three and he wasn't going to now, he held his knees to his chest and took deep breaths until he was feeling better. It wasn't like he hadn't helped a few people after all. The Ichiraku's were really nice to him and he made sure none of the drunks ever got too fresh with Ayame. He _was_ the demon child, he was far from deaf, and more than capable of spilling boiling hot broth on someone's lap and making it seem like an accident. He even let himself smile as he thought about the blind girl he saved from taking a beating.

Naruto had never liked it when people who were innocent were hurt. It…frustrated him. He always felt like he should defend those kinds of people because he knew he _was_ strong enough to handle it. Now….now he knew he was just fooling himself. Because he couldn't even wait until a drunk shinobi had left to grab some food, he had taken a kunai to the shoulder and been chased into a training ground.

Even Jiji would have been annoyed with him for making such a rookie mistake.

It was at that moment he heard a loud growl. Slowly, very, very slowly, he turned around. Looking behind him, maybe ten meters away, was a pair of very big, very bright yellow eyes. It must've smelt the blood from his arm. He had to do something!

Naruto grit his teeth, grabbed onto the kunai in his arm, and pulled. After a moment of intense pain, and a yelp, the knife was free and the animal was attacking. Just before the animal pounced Naruto brought the knife up and grabbed it with both arms, sending a jolt of pain through his injured arm, but he planted himself in a wide stance and marshaled what strength an exhausted, injured, malnourished six year old could.

When the creature hit him, he fell with the animal on top of him, and they rolled. Somehow, he had been standing just before a drop off of some kind and as they tumbled towards the ground Naruto's last thought was that maybe his next life would be easier.

Naruto groaned, his whole body ached. And with that thought he shot up, scrambling backwards until he hit the bark of a tree. Desperately looking around, panicking that the monster…might…get him. It had been a rabbit. Yes, the rabbit was the same size he was, but it was a freaking rabbit! He wanted to be Hokage and a freaking rodent had taken him down.

Looking around, he also realized he had absolutely no idea where he was. More so than last night even. He remembered he was in the training grounds, so he shouldn't be too far away from the village, but which way to go?

Deciding that he'd never get anywhere standing around (and somewhat hoping that he might be able to find something to eat), he simply started walking, following a small game trail. After perhaps four hours of walking, he came across a small creek, realizing he hadn't had anything to drink since the day before, he happily drank his fill. However, he had to keep going, so he simply started walking again.

Another two hours came and went before he arrived at a small clearing, spattered with what he recognized as dried blood. Calming down took a short while, but after his latest scare he started looking around, hoping to find something. What, he didn't know, but something useful…probably. Hopefully food! Or a map, or kunai, or maybe even a- and that's when he came across it. A badly decomposed body, with only scraps of clothing and most of its smaller bones missing, and several very rusty kunai sticking out of what used to be its chest.

After his third scare, which he calmed down from even faster than the other two, he figured that he ought to at least search the body. Walking up to it and removing the kunai, rusted to uselessness, but somewhat comforting in their weight, he found only one other thing. A small packet of documents.

Sitting down on a fallen log, a good ways from the body, he opened up the packet.

"Have you seen that cat…, boring, the cat was caught the other day, this one is boring too, man all of these seem to be about some cat, doesn't seem like something worth dying over, but this is…a MAP!"

Finding a small fold out map and opening it, his eyes were immediately drawn to the red X drawn in a far off corner. "Wait, maybe the cat wasn't a cat, maybe it was a code word…for…treasure." The boy whispered. Codes, secrets, a map with a red X, it could only mean a secret treasure. Living on the streets taught him the value of money and a treasure would definitely let him get more to eat. Maybe the Hokage would even make him a ninja if the treasure was important enough!

Looking up at the sky the sun was going down, so that was west, and the map had the symbol for a mountain near the X, and the X was in the top right corner, meaning it was in the north east of the forest! Deciding to put the sun to his back and start walking, perhaps not his best idea considering his complete lack of supplies or equipment (excluding a few rusty kunai), Naruto was determined to find this treasure and make the Hokage acknowledge him as a ninja!

 **Three Days Later**

Naruto groaned, he had been in this forest for four days now and he had no idea where he was. He knew he had to reach the northeastern corner, find some low mountains or hills, then get to the eastern base of the mountains; that was where the treasure was. But it was turning out to be much harder than he thought it would be. Right now, all he could see were the hills in the distance, but they still looked so far away.

Luckily he already knew the **Kawarimi no Jutsu** (substitution technique) and the **Henge no Jutsu** (transformation technique), otherwise he doubted he could have scared off those wolves or escaped those giant leeches. Though he regretted that he just couldn't get that stupid clone down, it could have been so useful against that massive snake.

However, he was rather happy as he had found no less than three dead ninja! After the first body, the corpses weren't so scary; he had even found some old rations, a tanto, and even some basic chakra training scrolls! The first, and best, of the scrolls talked about the five basic elemental exercises, the second had explained how to tree walk and water walk, and the third had explained the basic leaf, pebble, and sand exercises. He was going to have so much training to do when he got back!

Unfortunately, that was when he heard a loud roar behind him. In a panic he pushed chakra out of his feet, hopefully allowing him to jump away from whatever was coming for him now. What happened was him pushing far, far too much chakra out of his left foot, throwing his leg up into the air, channeling his energy into the ground, and slamming him into said ground. Rather thoroughly winding him.

Panting, seeing spots, he had no chance of dodging the massive paw that crashed into him. Fading from consciousness, he saw what he now confirmed was a truly terrifying giant bear, rearing on it's hind legs and smashing into the ground where his body just was.

Feeling the ground beneath him shifting, Naruto tried to stand up, only for the bear to begin charging him.

"Damn, damn, damn, what am I going to do?" shouted the boy, reaching for his scavenged tanto. Too out of it to dodge, he braced himself, once again prepared to die. "And I was so close to finding that treasure, so close to making Jiji acknowledge me." Naruto, with tears welling in his eyes, stood ready to receive the charging animal, betting on a single swipe, with all his strength, ready to fight to the bitter end.

Then, a rattling filled the air, the sound of the Shinigami's chains, the sound of death. The bear stumbled, but began to only charge faster and just as the animal reached him Naruto slashed downwards with all his might. The strike was too early, missing the animal by several centimeters, but what surprised the boy were the massive chains impaling the animal. Blue chains, ending in what looked like a spear point pierced the animal from nine different directions, skewering the animal, and pinning it to the ground.

Which he now noticed was spider webbed with large cracks. And just as he noticed his chakra decreasing, in a panic shutting off its flow, the ground opened wide, swallowing him and the bear whole. While falling he was struck with debris and bits of earth multiple times finally hitting the ground with great force, just in time for the bear's corpse to land on most of his body, breaking many, many bones. Blessedly, he blacked out, his last thought being 'At least the damn bear didn't get me'.

Deep below the earth, machines dormant for many, many, _many_ years stirred. Three thoughts going through their synthetic minds 'A breach in the tunnels', then it was 'Respond to security threat', and finally 'Awaken the master'.

While a squad of security droids escorted a trio of construction machines to repair the damaged tunnel, the bases medical machines began injecting cocktails into their one patient. As he stirred and twitched in his kolto tank, the construction dorids had just finished moving the rubble. Noticing a single boy underneath the corpse of one of this world's predators, the machines readied their rifles. Only for a single command to reach them.

Revan, for the first time in a very long time, felt the Force. And it was screaming at him to stop these machines. He stirred, through the haze of the drugs and the intense, biting pain, struggling to grab onto the Force. It felt so far away, like a whisper, instead of a roar. What was wrong with him he wondered? He would figure that out later, the machines must be stopped.

Reaching out with the Force, he found the bases command systems, somehow sensitive to that energy. And while he doubted the machine could use the Force, he could impart his orders. With the one thing he could tell them being "Do not kill the child." How he could tell that was what he should say, he didn't know; all he knew was that was what he _must_ say. And so he slipped back into the world of dreams as the pain and the drugs and his exertion became too much for him.

The machines hesitated; their master ordered them not to kill the child, easy enough. But it was dying, should they save it? Yes, the master would not have intervened if he didn't want it for later. So dispatching most of the medical droids, they prepared to gather the child. Moving rubble and animal aside, they surveyed the damage; 'Severe, should be fatal, yet it is already healing, how?' And subroutines not used for six millennia activated and the machines picked up the child, well, most of it.

Bringing it to a secondary medical facility, they began preparing the boy for the first of many surgeries. Injections of bacta, to stabilize him, anesthesia to ensure it does not awake, remove the clothes and its artifacts, secure them in a patient locker, and finally begin the surgery. And so they did, they worked on his body, amazingly the child responded much faster than they expected, cuts had to be redone, incisions deepened, bones rebroken, but still, they worked. Eventually they placed it into a modified kolto tank, one with many devices, gauges, and needles that were not present in the usual tanks. As they read its data more subroutines activated, it was at least partially human, but its DNA was far more efficient, most, maybe all, of the junk DNA or duplicates removed, the whole strand simplified, things they had never seen before were there, but still, they worked. His DNA could handle _it_ , he, for it was now a he, could survive the process, his healing factor guaranteed it. So they began their mistress's most ambitious project, the _one_ thing she never completed.

Revan felt the pain recede some, not much, but just enough for him to wake. His whole body felt as if he had been set on fire, he ached, but he could push it off to the side. He turned what little Force energy he could to healing himself and slipped back into the darkness. Again, he awoke, and again he returned after healing himself again and again. However, as time passed he could feel _something_ in the Force. It was Dark and it grew every time he awoke. Eventually, its power began to remind him of his own. As time went on he felt it, like a wound in the Force itself, _bleed_ the dark side around it. He himself had once been that dark, yet he had turned back to the light, defeated his fallen apprentice, and saved the Jedi. But in the end he saw the Jedi falter. Not like he had, for his memories as Darth Revan were his once more, no, they had grown…complacent, stagnant, and corrupt. He turned from them once again, going to confront the emperor of the true Sith empire by himself, but he remembered nothing past that.

A loud beep interrupted his musing, "Ah Master, it is good to see you awake. I had feared my medical programming had failed", came a rather happy tone. With that, his tank began to bubble, his whole body shook, and the tank slowly emptied. Medical droids came out, carrying a robe and a towel. After drying his body, they covered him.

"Machine, what is your designation?"

"My designation is the Autonomous Research and Medical Rehabilitation facility or ARMR for short."

"Where are we located?"

"We are currently on the far western edge of the uncharted territories. This planet's designation is P-001879, as it was the one thousandth eight hundred and seventy ninth planet to have an outpost or colony on it."

"And who developed these outposts or colonies?"

"My mistress was, as I fear her dead, Darth Treya, or Meetra Surik as you knew her."

"Surik? My general? Wait, when did she become a Sith?" She was one of the few-and with that word, he remembered. The Jedi had stripped her power from her, exiled her, that one of the few people he had trusted had been treated so poorly had angered him. Therefore, when Jedi began to disappear, he ignored it, going to face his true foe, not this new one. Of course, he saw them, in the shadows; he felt them, though others did not. For some reason he also knew they were not his to defeat. And he let the Jedi face this new threat, hoping it would force them to grow or at least drive them to change.

"Master, after your second attempt on the emperor, Jedi began to disappear en masse. Hoping to discern what was killing them they met upon the homeworld of the miraluka. There Darth Nihlus destroyed them all."

"How?"

"He devoured them."

"A variant of the death field technique, but on such a scale… does he yet live?"

"No, mistress Treya slew him, Darth Sion, and the original Darth Treya, during a series of battles determining the fate of the galaxy approximately ten years after your disappearance."

"So those were the ones hunting the Jedi. Huh, glad that she regained her powers then. Now, my last question for the moment is; what in the hell am I sensing?"

"Clarify."

"I sense, with greatly diminished powers I might add, a huge source of dark side Force energy about two kilometers from here."

"Ah, yes, that is the child you saved. To answer your second question, he was used in an experiment to revive the Sith species. I am rather proud to say that it was far more successful than even Mistress expected."

"Take me to him."

"Please follow the security droids."

With that, a door opened and a pair of droids carrying blaster rifles stepped into the room. Revan walked towards them as they turned around and followed them into an open hallway. Like the room he had awoken in, the walls were painted white with various colored lines on them. He assumed they led to major areas, the mess, barracks, the medical center, and so on. After thirty minutes or so of walking, he had arrived at a room with a reinforced security door, no lines leading to it, and as he walked toward it, he physically _felt_ the locks disengaging.

As he walked through a decontamination chamber he felt the child's power, he, the child, was as powerful as he was at his height, and likely completely untrained, considering how wild the power felt. Revan pondered his choices, deciding to search the boy's mind first, as it would be better to avoid awakening a monster. Once he stood in front of the single shielded kolto tank in use he extended his senses, following the trail of the Force, only to find a barrier of some kind blocking him. Searching the barrier, he found thirty-six points where it seemed particularly strong, but there were weak spots, and Revan was a very talented…what was he anymore? Jedi, Sith, exile, traitor, no, he was none of them. That was the truth, he was neither. Both had their flaws, but he felt far more sympathy for the path of the Sith. Not the wild impulsive destruction, but acting. The Jedi way always led to apathy. However, this was a thought for another time.

He felt flaws in this field and he slipped inside, only to find himself in what seemed to be a truly ancient Sith tomb. He saw a series of runes carved along the walls, several red, but most were blue or black. He also felt _two_ presences. Walking he found himself in the heart of the tomb, faceless Sith statues looking down upon a raised dais, upon which a sarcophagus rested, the boy most likely, but as he walked, he felt a void. A place where there was simply no Force energy and he felt it was beneath the dais. And as he looked, he felt truly incredible malice, and finally a massive power. One that dwarfed him, it wasn't the Force, rather it was a dead zone in the Force, almost enough to push him out, and he could tell it was _sleeping_.

Looking at the strange symbols covering the dais, he realized that he, with his knowledge of more than seven hundred languages, had never seen them before. They reminded him vaguely of Sith runes, perhaps some of their magic? But he had never before seen these exact symbols. Maybe the answers lay with the boy, perhaps, but still he should be careful.

And so he approached the tomb, reaching out with the Force as he did so. As he touched the boy's mind, he used extreme care as he slipped through his thoughts, mostly of pain, into his memories. In doing so, he felt anger burning in his gut for the first time since the genocide of the Cathar. He had taken great care to control his emotions over the years, but living this child's neglect and abuse pained him. The extreme isolation, the attacks, having stones or garbage thrown at him, mostly on his birthdays, the beatings, mostly from drunk civilians, occasionally drunk ninja, never where the masked men could see it, it was enough to truly anger the ancient warrior. Already noticing a pattern, Revan realized the abuse always peaked on 'October 10th', never in the presence of the masked men or 'Jiji', the leader of these people.

The boy's birthday, the date of a festival, and the date of an attack on their village six years ago. Moreover, the boy was six. So an orphan of the attack? But what attacked, a powerful creature, the Kyuubi? Maybe, probably, the creature inside of him was what attacked the village. That would explain their hatred of him. Still.

Another emotion he thought long buried, sympathy. This child, so young, and an attempt on his life, the…torture, yes it was torture, he had endured, and so much innocence. Yet one thing overshadowed his innocence, his potential. Ignoring his strength in the Force, this strange energy, 'chakra' he called it, and a 'kekkai genkai' of some kind showed a great deal of promise. The boy's relationship and protection by the leader of the village showed a stronger than normal association, an important one to the boy, his name 'Naruto', meaning he was the son of someone very important. But why neglect him, politics probably, but he needed confirmation.

However, whatever he decided to do, he could benefit from training the boy, and he did feel bad for him. Perhaps it was time for him to take another apprentice. Hopefully it would turn out better for him this time around. Revan chuckled; he doubted the boy would turn on him, considering the abuse he had suffered. Rather Naruto would cling to him like a drowning man to a life raft. Yes, he would be able to trust the boy, rely on him, and most importantly, the boy would be very, very powerful. Maybe one day he would even surpass Revan himself.

"Awaken!" With that Naruto stirred, his body healed, covered in terrible scars, yet nothing that restricted his movement, he felt more than he ever had before. For some reason he was so heavy. He now realized that he was in a tank filled with something a bit thicker than water, and a strange device on his mouth let him breathe. Without panicking, he looked about, seeing nothing but pitch darkness, he felt fear well up within him. Just before he began thrashing he felt the fluid began to drain and a bright light strike his eyes. Shutting them tight, he fell to the bottom of the now exposed medical tube. Just as the last of the fluid had slipped through the bottom, a loud hiss filled his ears.

Feeling himself fall, he threw his arms out before himself, and they responded far too quickly. And his arms were red! He seemed to almost be falling in slow motion, and striking the floor, his body felt so light. It was too light, his body now felt like he only weighed five maybe ten kilos. Looking up he noticed a strange man standing before him; waist length black hair, grey eyes, no shoes, and black, unadorned robes. Naruto noticed he could see the individual stitching on the robes, small imperfections on the man's stern face. He could smell twenty different chemicals coming from him as well. They smelled like a hospital smelt, only much stronger, with far greater variations between them. And everything seemed so loud; a few monitors were beeping, the man's heart, his own heart. How could he hear their hearts!? What was going on!

"Calm yourself young one" uttered the man in perfect Japanese, "I mean you no harm."

"Who…who are you?" stuttered Naruto in response.

"My name is Revan, what's yours?"

"Uzumaki Naruto…"

"That's a very nice name Naruto. Now, please dry yourself off, and put on these robes." said the man as two medical droids handed him a towel and a set of gray robes. Naruto, blushing accepted both, and after drying himself noticed that these robes, while simple, were very well made, and even had slits for his…additions to fit through.

"Um, excuse me Revan-san…"

"Just Revan, the honorific…bothers me."

"Okay then, Revan why was I in that tank, why do I feel strange, what is this place, _where_ is this place, and what do you plan on doing with me?"

"Slow down, slow down" chuckled Revan "First, you were injured terribly, a bear struck you and part of a tunnel collapsed on you. Secondly, you feel strange because to save you, the machines in this place changed you, look at your reflection."

Looking at the now closed tube he had been in, he saw his reflection in the glass and gasped. His skin was red, his eyes were yellow, his teeth were sharp, he had strange formations where his eyebrows used to be, his hair was black, his fingernails were claws and black as well, he had spikes coming from his elbows, and he only had two toes, with another spike coming from his heel! What had they done to him!? What was he!? He was a monster now, just like the villagers always said. Naruto began to grow angry, incredibly so. He would show those bastards what a real monster was! As he thought this, his power spiked, damaging the two nearby security droids.

" **Calm yourself**." Ordered Revan, and somehow Naruto began to calm down. "Calm Naruto, you are _not_ a monster. However, you are only half human now. Half of you is now Sith in origin. A combination of massassi and kissai Sith I believe."

"I heard your voice in the tank, you told me to wake up."

"Yes I did and I'm very glad you woke up. I was worried you might decide to sleep forever. Now, your third question, as to what this place is, it is a research and medical facility, designed initially to heal me, though you seem to have joined me as a patient of this place."

"Why did you do this to me?"

"I did nothing. These machines were the ones who changed you. ARMR, what was the exact reason you changed him?"

"Ah, master, he had a healing factor. All other subjects failed to survive the change. We decided that as he would be crippled for life if he did not undergo the change, he would be happier with the experiment than without."

"I understand. So what happens now Revan?"

"Well, Naruto that depends on you. You have a great deal of potential as a student of the Force. Considering your new form you'll need to be able to defend yourself from those that what harm you, it would be very beneficial to learn the combat skills I can offer. And if you so desire, I will take you on as a full apprentice."

"What's the Force?"

"Surely you feel it around you? All things, living or otherwise, have some presence in the Force. Even the machines you damaged and the medical droids would have some spark. You are far too powerful not to feel them, much less myself, even damaged as I am."

"I…I feel like I have a fire in my belly, but it's cold. So cold it almost hurts. I can…maybe…it's like a whisper, but from so far away…I'm sorry."

"Do not apologize. It's likely your other energy, chakra I believe it was called, is suppressing your Force abilities. Chakra seems to form a kind of barrier to the Force, though it is not enough to completely cut you off, powerful as you are, from my sensory abilities, as it is not a perfect barrier. Though I imagine with training it could do so."

"So you could train me in this "Force", maybe…are you a shinobi then?"

"No, I am not. However, many of my skills and techniques would be useful to a shinobi. Why do you ask?"

"I want to…wanted to become a shinobi, to make to the people of my village acknowledge me. They call me monster, demon, most of them ignore me, if I'm lucky. I just didn't want to be alone."

"Perhaps you still could become a shinobi. I'll train you to the best of my ability and help you to grow as a shinobi as much as possible. I may not know the techniques of a shinobi, but I know how to train assassins and infiltrators very well. So, do you accept my help?"

"Yes, Revan."

"Good. Now, that I am your teacher you are to refer to me as master. I will explain why to you once we begin your training. For now, **rest**. ARMR, show him the way to a room, provide him with whatever he needs."

"Acknowledged master, please follow the green line Naruto."

"Yes…master."

30 minutes later

Revan was confused, he had thought the boy was mainly human, but these recordings were insane. His healing factor was ridiculous, not to mention the truly terrifying genetic manipulation. His pre-change DNA could only be described as improved above and beyond the most advanced gene therapy. No redundancies, no junk DNA, the propensity for a huge number of common human ailments removed. And the unknown strands, they _might_ account for the seemingly impossible feats in the boy's memories. Revan had seen and done more than almost any other Sith or Jedi he had ever heard of, yet much of what the boy remembered, not thought or imagined, but remembered just seemed impossible. But that would have to be investigated later, after he healed, or at least when the boy was trained.

"ARMR, explain the breakdown of his genetic code one more time."

"Certainly, master. Pre change, his DNA contained approximately 60.432% of the strands normally found in baseline humans. However, the super majority, approximately 99.221%, of the missing strands were duplicates, genetic dead ends, or carried junk code. The remaining alterations are almost entirely new strands. Many of them can be traced back to baseline human traits, mostly affecting the pigmentation of various body parts, yet the rest seem to express themselves in variety of different ways, including the production of an entirely different set of organs parallel to the nervous system. Interestingly enough, there appears to be no less than four strands of dormant genetic information and a strand that seems to have only recently activated."

"Curious, perhaps it was the ability he used to kill the bear. He vaguely knew something about 'kekkai genkai' or bloodline limits. Naruto seems to have been almost completely neglected and his education is abysmal. I will have to rectify that as quickly as possible. I wonder…ARMR, is it possible to activate the dormant strands?"

"Yes master, I altered as little unknown DNA as possible, integrating the Sith strands rather than overwriting his DNA."

"Explain the totality of the changes to me, I may not be an expert on xenobiology, but I've never seen a pureblood look like that. Not to mention he felt far too powerful, especially behind a barrier like the one his chakra created."

"Mistress Surik was not interested in simply recreating the Sith species, but rather perfecting the evolution of such a powerfully Force sensitive species. She was hunted by both the Sith Empire and the Trade Republic. Her student's students hunted her as well as the ones who brainwashed you. It was her understanding that she needed soldiers capable of winning a very bloody, very long war."

"Understood, but what were the exact changes she made and why did she fail?"

"Mistress Surik mixed massassi and kissai Sith DNA to exploit the enhanced physical attributes of the warrior caste and the natural Force talents of the priest caste. So his senses, all five of them, are increased to roughly seven times that of baseline humans. Though I do believe he already possessed improved senses, but what extent is unknown, his final levels will likely fall within a predictable range. Additionally his brain processes data much, much faster. With three times as many neurons and a theoretically infinite supply of stem cells, he will in essence 'see' and 'hear' faster than baseline humans. This includes the obviously enhanced reflexes as well as superior information processing and retention. His physical enhancements include natural clotting and pain suppression agents, changes to his ear structure, eyes, and tongue. His muscles are now significantly denser, while the composition of his skin and bones has been changed to support his now drastically improved strength. While he would not be able to throw tanks about, he could easily shift one, while his bones would allow him to survive falls at terminal velocity along with a fused and completely upgraded rib cage. To compensate for the damage this could cause to the lungs through constriction, great improvements are made to the lungs themselves while the total volume of the rib cage was expanded. His skin will not stop a determined attacker, but it will offer some resistance to non-vibro bladed weaponry, blasters will still burn through, though their effects will be reduced. His internal organs are also improved, though the augmentations are purely biological. To clarify, he no longer possess an appendix, he has gained barriers between major organs that will prevent blood loss or infection, significant improvements in the function of all of his organs, and has gained two organs. The first is a self replenishing repository of stem cells while the second is a dual function lung allowing him to breathe underwater. Finally, all known genetic defects or propensities for disease have been removed. He is essentially the perfect specimen."

"So basically he heals faster, thinks faster, runs faster, hits harder, sees in the dark, can't lose his balance, breathes underwater, smells, hears, and sees better, while healing any injury given sufficient time along with a general resistance to poisons and toxins. Damn, Surik doesn't do things by half measures. Question, are his claws and teeth functional weapons?"

"Of course master."

"Again, damn, and all of this is genetic, meaning his kids would have all of these traits as well. And considering that Sith reach adulthood in fourteen years or so Surik would have had a population of super soldiers breeding at twice the rate of the Jedi or the Sith. ARMR, why was Naruto chosen to undergo these improvements?"

"Mistress Surik failed to complete the experiments before her death. The reason the experiments failed was that none of the subjects survived the transformation, all dying before the process could finish. Naruto possessed a powerful healing factor and it was decided that he would be the most likely candidate to survive the process."

"Well, I can't wait to see where he'll go. Anyways, go over the base's supplies and what Surik left behind for me."

"Of course master…"

15 minutes later

Naruto sighed as he looked into his reflection, thinking back on his day. The first thing he could remember was Revan, his new master apparently, somehow speaking in his head. Then the tank, Naruto shuddered remembering the pitch black and how it seemed like his senses had been completely cut off. And of course the searing pain in his stomach, now more of a dull ache, scared him as well. Of course the machines had scared him too, but he guessed they were just puppets or something like that. Learning that he could now use something called The Force was cool though. He could feel it, just at the edge of his perceptions. It felt cold, but somehow like an embrace? It confused him. But what confused and scared him the most was what he looked like.

His face was mostly the same, the shape was sharper though. He still had his whiskers on his cheeks, darker in color and much more pronounced than they used to be. He wondered why they itched for some reason. The most striking changes was his now much thicker black hair and the deep red coloration of his skin. They were probably the only changes that actually bothered him, considering his now black and much sharper nails wouldn't be particularly obvious and sharp teeth, though perhaps not as sharp as his were, weren't uncommon among some of the more unusual shinobi. However, the changes to his feet bothered him a bit, especially the spikes on the back of his feet, though he guessed they would be pretty useful in taijutsu. Frowning as he tested the spikes on the back of his elbows, he figured they were pretty tough, but using them for anything but specifically trained attacks would be difficult, and he would have to be careful not to knock anything over with them. Since his spikes were black, just like his nails, most people would probably take them to be weapons of some kind, so that would be ok too.

Sighing, once again, he realized he was far more tired than he had first thought; he turned to the small cot in the room he had been lead to and slipped underneath the thin sheets, still clothed. Sleep did not come quickly, but it did come. And the final thought Naruto held that night: 'Perhaps this won't be so bad.'

 **51 BBY Month 4**

Naruto groaned, his whole body aching. His master had kept his word: the training was brutal and thorough. The worst thing was that Revan claimed that these were just warm up exercises and they pushed Naruto to his limits. Though his new physical powers were nice, and still growing at that, the sixteen hour days of training, only stopping for meals and bathroom breaks, were intense. Combine that with the fact that Revan spent half of the remaining time inside his head teaching him, well everything. He had apparently scoured Naruto's memory, recreating Japanese and then ensured that Naruto himself mastered all that Revan could figure out.

Of course, that would be incredibly impressive were it not for the fact that he sped time up by an order of magnitude inside Naruto's mindscape. Revan claimed that he had precious little time to teach him things that took the man half a century to master. If Naruto was being perfectly honest with himself, he loved listening to Revan. The man answered every question he asked so long as he knew the answer, only asking Naruto to avoid a few personal subjects. And Revan had started teaching him _everything_! Well, he was definitely stronger and smarter. Calmer too, unless he got angry that was. Blushing a bit, Naruto recalled as his master explained the nature of the power within him, explaining that it fed on his emotions after he had ripped apart a training target with his bare hands.

Revan had decided that Naruto's final training schedule, once he was up to par, would be four hours of physical training, four hours of meditation, four hours of chakra control exercises, four hours of various skill training (Revan had explicitly stated that it was incredibly dangerous to specialize solely in combat and ignore his more practical skills), "four" hours of teaching inside of his mind, and four hours of free time. Which Naruto had quite happily used for sleeping, even if his body didn't need as much rest as it used too and he regained his physical energy while learning.

And ARMR was really cool too. Though he could be a bit blunt, like when he had mentioned that Naruto was in that damn tube for six months, he was really helpful whenever Naruto had needed anything though.

To be honest, other than missing the Hokage and Ichiraku's, everything in his life was better. Even his living conditions were better than before he had come here. After that first night ARMR had directed him to a new room. It was a bit depressing at first, what with everything being grey or black, but once Naruto had been able to add a few touches of orange, he appreciated the dark and the quiet of the room almost as much as he appreciated his attached shower facilities. Naruto had spent many hours under the pure bliss that was the hot water of his beloved shower. Frankly the two bookshelves, desk, moderately sized bed, couch, media center containing what both Revan and ARMR had called "music" (Naruto shuddered at most of Revan's taste, a synthesizer and beat machine did _not_ create music, though some of the arias were nice), gave the rather large room a spacious if empty feel. Naruto wasn't complaining though, it was a very nice place, especially compared to his old apartment.

Even the food wasn't that bad. Nothing quite on the level of Teuchi and Ayame of course, but quite a bit got close. He was happy, even if his training sometimes felt like Revan was just a sadist…

 **51 BBy Month 6**

Naruto centered himself. Revan had decided to have him spar against a combat droid for the first time and he was ready. He opened his eyes, Revan shouted "Begin!" Naruto immediately launched himself forward.

Deciding to put his opponent on the defensive, Naruto began with a series of three quick slashes, his claws showing their power with the damage they cause to the machine. Following up with a sweep, the machine jumps over the attack. Naruto immediately spins himself around, leaning into a handstand, and kicking the machine with both feet.

The droid, rebounding from the attack lands two meters away, then launches itself forward. A flurry of blows came straight for Naruto's head. Naruto bats each one away just in time to notice a hammer fist coming straight for him. Twisting, he traps the arm, before turning into the attack, sliding up into the droid, and then throwing the machine in one smooth motion.

Planting himself, Naruto brings his heel up, ready for an axe kick. The machine blocks the attack, but his heel punches through the armor of the right arm. Using Naruto's trapped heel to its advantage, the robot pulls forward, bringing his other arm up to punch Naruto in the bend of the knee.

Responding with a kick to the incoming arm, Naruto plants his left foot on the machine's head, just before ripping his embedded heel out with a back flip. Returning to a ready stance, Naruto prepares himself for the droid to resume its offensive.

Jumping up, the machine begins to circle Naruto, looking for a flaw in the boy's defense. As soon as the machine launches itself at him, Naruto drops into a low stance, intercepting the machines strike by impaling its good arm with the spike on his right arm.

Yanking the machine off balance by pulling his arm forwards, Naruto turns into the falling machine, driving his left spike into the droid's eye socket, disabling the machine.

As soon as it begins to drop, Naruto jumps away from the machine sliding once more into his ready stance.

"Good job my boy, your performance was spectacular," exclaims Revan, as he walks towards his apprentice clapping. "I think it is time you began your sword training, do you not?"

"I would very much appreciate this master", murmurs the now 1.6 meter tall boy.

"Do not worry my student; you are moving far faster than any other I have seen. It would not be unusual for others to take anywhere from two to four years to reach this point. And the least among the students of the Force would not have even come this far."

"I know master; I'm just a bit anxious."

"And that's normal, considering you are mastering two separate powers; you have twice as much to do. That is why I train you as hard as I do. Considering that you have already mastered the first meditation exercises, I think I may change your schedule a bit. Perhaps, two hours meditating, two hours with weapon practice? You do need to learn how to use a blaster after all!"

"Thank you master, I would enjoy that very much…"

 **51 BBY Month 12**

"Remember Naruto, just survey the area around the tunnel exit, make sure the drone creates a local map, and then see if you can identify any permanent positions nearby. I know you said the breach occurred in a training ground, so we need to make sure it doesn't receive regular use."

"Yes, my master", stated Naruto, kneeling before Revan. The boy had been educated in the way of the Sith, and he had chosen to show this deference to his teacher. He knew the man was truly great. Revan had shaken the galaxy no less than three times, he was also simply very, very powerful. While Naruto surpassed him in terms of raw might, he felt Revan's strength return a bit more every day, and the man's experience allowed him to outclass Naruto many times over, even in his weakened state.

If asked, Naruto would deny he had anything but pride in his teacher, to himself however, he admitted he felt unease flowing through the man. Sometimes Naruto could feel a darkness about the man, something that he knew was not his master, and it grew with his master's power. Sometimes the man seemed to even be lost amongst his thoughts, even though it was plain that his master was in pain during those moments, he never mentioned it to Naruto.

The fact that the man who had shown him so much was suffering worried Naruto, though ARMR believed that it was simply damage from the long stasis, Naruto knew it was something more. But he would worry about that later, for now; he had a mission to complete.

Silently, Naruto reviewed his equipment: First his pair of short swords, simple durasteel creations, they were sixty centimeters long and honed to a razor edge. Second, his armored robes, a medium thickness hydrophobic, nano weave, ankle length grey robes equipped with an armored overlay that somewhat resembled his masters customized star forge robes. That is an armored chest guard, with overlapping plates that resembled an okegawa dou without the battle skirt, bracers that allowed full movement of the fingers while protecting his forearms and the back of his hands, greaves that covered the top of his feet, shins, and the side of his thighs, and a simple grey assassin's mask with the Sith rune for silence over the mouth guard. All in grey and all of it weighing no more than twenty kilograms. This rather plain outfit was completed with a rough spun grey wool cloak, to cover his elbow spikes and somewhat cover his strange feet.

He wasn't taking additional weapons or supplies as it would weigh him down and escape was far more preferable than combat. Considering who and what he was, he truly doubted he had any chance to make to villagers acknowledge him, and his master's secrecy was imperative. Killing ninja would send the entire village into lockdown and draw Sarutobi's personal attention, a spy escaping the ANBU would only have hunter teams sent out and the perimeter reinforced. The former he would be hard pressed to survive, the later could simply be worked around. And now, he was ready. Taking a deep breath and placing his mask on his face he left the armory.

30 Minutes Later

Very quietly and very quickly Naruto moved through the low brush surrounding the surface exit, a small hatch about a meter square, hunting for any possible signs of a shinobi's presence. The small probe he had deployed fed a constantly updating stream of information into his small HUD, while being very useful, couldn't give him an accurate view of the forest below its canopy. As such, a physical inspection was the only thing that would guarantee results.

In order to minimize the chances of him being detected they had launched the mission just after the sun had set, on the night of a new moon, and when there was a great deal of cloud cover. However, these measures seemed to have failed, as after only half an hour of mapping, Naruto had already sensed someone. Thankfully they seemed to be in a clearing about five hundred meters north of the entrance, but anyone this close to the base could be a threat, and Naruto moved to investigate.

After only a minute or so of Force enhanced running he had taken position in a small ditch, right on the edge of the clearing. Carefully, Naruto reached out with the Force, while focusing it to sharpen his already superhuman hearing. These acts allowed him to both estimate their amount of chakra, and therefore their amount of power, and hear their discussion as if they were both speaking directly to him.

"…and now that old bastard is getting suspicious, he's even sent me to teach those damn brats!"

"Calm yourself Mizuki, Orochimaru-sama is pleased with these scrolls, but you _must_ acquire the Scroll of Seals. Take your time, he doesn't care how long it takes you, just make sure you don't get caught."

"All right Kabuto. We'll have to stop meeting like this, damn kage partnered me up with some joke of a chunin, Iruka was his name, and he'll get suspicious if we meet up regularly."

"Understood, you know where the dead drop is, and I'll undoubtedly hear about the scroll being stolen, so you can guess what needs to be done. Now, we must go."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going and don't worry, it'll all be taken care of."

Naruto remained absolutely still, suppressed his chakra as much as he physically could, and dared not even breathe as the two conspirators took off in opposite directions. After waiting a short while he moved out, aiming to complete his objectives before the night was already over.

In the end it had only taken him two hours to sweep the area immediately around the entrance and he had only picked up one other human scent. Strangely enough that scent consisted of oil, snakes, and sweets. It was most definitely unusual, but not in an entirely unfamiliar way. Deciding it was time to return, Naruto recalled the probe, and made his way back to the facilities entrance, prepared to report his findings to his master.

45 Minutes Later

Revan was truly having difficulty believing his luck; his student had completed his first mission without difficulty, found that only a single shinobi entered the training ground with any regularity, uncovered a conspiracy to steal a vitally important artifact, and returned without encountering any hostiles.

Revan was also a student of the Force and as such he believed in neither coincidences nor luck. As was the case, he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Since it had not, this meant that the inevitable disaster waiting at the end of this streak of good fortune was going to be horrific. And it would be his job to protect his apprentice as much as possible.

"ARMR, I've come to a decision. Summon Naruto and prepare the experimental chamber." a single beep the only acknowledgement of his order. Knowing that his student needed to grow, especially if the village had enough traitors that his apprentice could randomly meet two, on his first mission at that, then he needed the boy ready for when this place was inevitably ripped apart. And the quickest way to do that would be to start awakening his bloodlines. Of course, the fact that he was carrying out medical procedures beyond the wildest dreams of the scientists of his lifetime was pure coincidence. Even if he had been a Jedi.

With that Revan heard his student walk into the room behind him, kneel, and utter a simple "Master". Turning to the boy, he calmly analyzed his student. There were many things that could happen in the coming years. His student could die in battle, he could be betrayed, an illness could strike him. All of them unlikely, but all possible, and there were few things he could do in order to protect his student, aside from training the boy into the ground that is.

With a smile, Revan began explaining his decision, "Naruto, this village is not safe, and we lack the capability to relocate to a more secure location. For that reason I've decided to offer you the chance to awaken a few dormant kekkai genkai."

"Master, if they are dormant how would I be able to access them? Wouldn't that mean I'm only a carrier for the recessive gene?"

"Under normal circumstances you would be correct. However, Surik, the person who built this outpost, was a master geneticist by the time of her death. And this base contains the most advanced genetic manipulation technology I have ever seen or heard of. Not even the Rakatan came close. And ARMR is confident he can activate the bloodlines, though it will require a great deal of time."

"So I'll be in the tube and my training will be put on hold…How long will the process take? And what bloodline will I gain?"

"ARMR believe it would take six months and we aim to activate a bloodline that, not coincidentally, affects your blood. It should improve your rate of healing, grant your immune system a serious upgrade, and your blood would gain healing properties. And to answer any possible future questions, we wish to avoid possible complications betweens this world's biosphere and your alien biology, and the reason this bloodline was chosen is that it is the strongest one present in your body. Normally it would only be present in females, but we can quite easily convince it to awaken in your body, with only the most minor of hormonal changes."

"Master, so long as you believe this to be the correct path forward, I shall take it."

"Very well then my student. Prepare yourself." And without another word Naruto stripped, placed a medical suit over his body, stashed his equipment in a patient locker, and got into the modified kolto tank. The last thing he remembered was ARMR telling him to put a mask over his mouth and relax.

 **50 BBY Month 8**

A two meter tall red skinned humanoid stood in the middle of no less than twenty skeletal looking machines. All of which currently held a repeating blaster rifle. And all of which were aiming at the being, who was protected by nothing more than two shining swords, a pair of loose black pants, and some bandage wrappings around his feet and hands. At an unseen signal all of the machines opened fire. And each and every shot was immediately deflected into one of the other droids.

The man had redirected no less than two hundred shots within a second. However, the slaughter was not yet complete as a group of five much larger machines dropped from an entrance in the ceiling. Reacting as they fell, the humanoid threw his blades, impaling two of the three machines in front of him. As they were thrown towards the wall he immediately launched himself towards the third machine, striking it in the chest with three rapid jabs. Knocking the droid back and cracking its torso, he simply explodes forward in a burst of pure speed and staves the machines chest in with a vicious kick. Turning into a leg sweep as the final machines approach him, the droids jump, just as the man wanted. As the two machines reach the apex of their jump he kicks one into the ceiling hard enough to damage the duracrete and blocks the downward kick of the final machine. Hearing his arm snap under the droids blow, he turns into the strike, and using his good arm, hip tosses the machine onto the floor. After this, he promptly smashes his foot through his final opponents head.

Having cleared the room, he grabs his left arm, the broken one, and snaps it back into place just before his healing factor finishes fixing the damage. Turning to look at the destroyed chassis of one of his "sparring" partners, the two meter tall, red skinned humanoid looks over himself. Long black dreadlocks reach his waist, his yellow eyes dominate his angular, predatory face. He'd be called attractive if his features weren't so sharp and if he didn't have two prehensile face tendrils drooping down from right beside his nose. Sharpened, black teeth with extremely prominent canines and a longer than human normal tongue make up his mouth, while cartilaginous ridges have grown where his eyebrows should be. Blackened nails, each sharpened to a point, compliment his Y shaped feet, each composed of two toes, ending in similarly sharpened black nails, and a heel spike. His well muscled torso and arms are relatively normal, save for the two spikes of bone jutting from his elbows and what appears to be a solid, if articulated, set of bone plates where on a human a normal ribcage would be. He was Uzumaki Naruto, remade in the image of the perfect Sith.

And he was ready. For six months his body was changed, and for five years within his mind he was taught in the old way of the Sith. Most would call it torture, most would call it cruel, it would break almost anyone who underwent it. But he did not break. No, he thrived. He only screamed once. And after the first year his Master began to teach him all the dark secrets he knew. Poisons and medicines, languages and the way of making war with nothing but words, how to torture and cause pain without damage to a body, and so much about the history of his people. And the pain only focussed him. Now he was ready to take his first life, to make his first kill, and his master had decided it was time for him to go out into the world and do so.

Moving to the armory, ARMR and its machines would see to the training room, he toweled what little sweat he formed off himself. Having arrived after a short walk, he reviewed his equipment: two mandalorian style heavy blaster pistols, twenty throwing knives, two thermal detonators, his rations, his grey apprentice's robes, omniscope, datapad with the locations of his targets, and his twin Sith war swords. His own creations were not quite up to the standards of the ancients, but the fact that they would shatter durasteel blades with a single strike spoke volumes of both the blades and his own power. It helped that he could channel both Force energy, his own Sith magic, and chakra through them as well. His Master had taught him well indeed.

As if summoned by the thought, and with his Master that was possible, Revan walked into the room, ready to deliver the final instructions to his apprentice. Dropping to one knee and bowing his head in submission, Naruto uttered only two words, "My Master."

"Rise, my apprentice. It is time for you to earn your robes as a true Sith. You will make your first kill. To guide you in this I have set you three targets and they are to be neutralized in the following ways: One is to be slaughtered in silence, none may escape or know of your presence. The second is to be ambushed, yet engaged in a frontal attack, none may escape. At the third and final camp you are to reveal yourself. Fear is a powerful weapon and to wield it, you must give them something to fear. Only one may survive this slaughter and you shall mark him."

"Yes, my master."

Clapping his student on the shoulder, Revan turned to boy and began speaking in a far kinder tone, "Naruto, you have already made me proud. And I am truly sorry you have had to endure what you have endured, but you have come so far, so quickly. These next few days will be a challenge, but I know you shall make me even prouder."

"Thank you, sensei. I...I appreciate everything you have done for me. Even if it was not all pleasant, you have saved me from horrors I can not imagine."

"Good my boy, good." And with that Revan turned and left his student to finish his preparations.

 **Three days later**

Naruto dropped from the tree he had been hiding in, it was time for him to begin his attack. For the last three days he had dodged ninja patrols to escape through the main entrance of the village, easy enough when the guards were asleep, moved without being seen to the first bandit camp he was to destroy, and scouted the camp out for two days. He had identified no less than seven points of entry a non-shinobi warrior could use, twice that for a shinobi, and only a bit less than hundred different plans of attack he could use. All without violating his orders.

After a short climb through the branches of the trees surrounding the clearing, Naruto waited for one of the men to break from the perimeter. After an hour or so, a pair of guards walked over from their initial position with only one going into the forest itself. Quickly moving into position to eliminate his first target, Naruto waited until the man began to drop his trousers. At the moment his target grabbed his belt, he struck. Dropping onto the targets back, placing the man in a chokehold, and kicking the back of the targets knees in less than a second. After squeezing as hard as he could, Naruto realized he had destroyed the man's throat, to the point his entire neck was deformed.

Looking down at his first kill, a younger man than he expected, perhaps only sixteen or so? The poor boy's face showed pure horror as death embraced him. Mouth open in a silent scream, tears forming in his eyes from the pain of having his neck crushed, said destroyed neck with pulverized vertebrae showing, a small pool of blood forming. And he felt sight of your first kill was supposed to change you. You were supposed to freeze up, vomit, some even screamed. Shrugging, Naruto figured his training worked.

Moving quickly, Naruto reached the edge of the forest and grabbed the second guard from behind. Snapping this man's neck, he moved across the space between the forest and the camp in a moment. Staying just out of the firelight, Naruto approached each tent in turn, slitting the back of those he sensed occupants in, slipping into each, and then killing the men silently. Once his rounds were complete, taking less than ten minutes to kill thirty men, Naruto positioned himself a few meters away from the final seven men sitting around the main campfire.

Drawing six throwing knives and preparing his swords to be drawn, he struck. As soon as the knives left his hands he drew his two blades and launched himself at his final target. The six men were hit in their throats and the knives over penetrated the bodies, knocking each back several meters in the process, while his swords impaled the final man through the throat and right lung. Withdrawing his blades Naruto pulses his chakra, looking for any survivors, and detecting none moves to collect his knives. After cleaning his knives and swords and looting the camp of anything he could use, Naruto decided he was ready to move off, ready to wipe out the second camp and be one step closer to being done with this mission.

 **Two days later**

Surveying the target one last time, Naruto began his mental checklist: 'fifty two bandits, no shinobi, only one likely to be able to use chakra, twelve have bows, forty have spears and clubs, one has armor, that one was most likely the one that could use chakra. Obstacles were a light palisade with a barricade and weak gate. To fulfill the mission parameters I must wait until a patrol leaves and attack when the gate is open.' After finishing his checklist Naruto settled in for a wait. After about two hours a group of ten bandits began to leave the camp and Naruto reacted.

Launching himself from his hiding place in a ditch on the side of a trail leading to the camp, Naruto gathered a large amount of fire natured chakra in his lungs. Once he was about fifteen meters away he released all of the energy in a massive fireball, easily five meters wide, frying the men trying to leave the camp, the gates, most of the wall around the gates, and the first half of the bandits before dispersing. Launching himself through the collapsing gate, he dropped in front of the panicking bandits. Sighting their probable leader, coming out of the largest tent with half his armor on, Naruto burst forward and drove his heel spike through his target's head.

Jumping up, removing his heel from his target, and charging a burst of lightning chakra, Naruto mapped the position of every remaining hostile in the camp. Once his spin had finished he unleashed a massive wave of lightning, hitting and frying every bandit in the camp.

Dropping from his final technique, Naruto surveyed the damage. The destruction was limited to the inside of the wall, for the most part at least, with everything either reduced to dust or shattered to fragments by the final attack. Looking at the ground, Naruto realized most of the earth had been turned to glass. Deciding there was nothing to be gained, and that he maybe needed to reduce the power of his attacks, Naruto left. Ready to finish his final task, return to his master, and get a real shower, he began the journey to his final target.

 **Two days later**

It was time. His final target: sixty men, four of them shinobi, none of them even close to his level. His mission, attack them, kill all but one, and mark the last of his targets. Terrify his enemies into submission. Wield fear as a weapon. And maybe even have a bit of fun. Smiling, though no one would be able to see it, Naruto moved into position. Right in front of the entrance to the camp. Removing his mask, Naruto adjusted the hood of his cloak, ensuring no one would see his face, and looked. After a few minutes one of the bandits walked up to him.

"Oy, you, wat chu doin? You bes be gittin outa 'ere if you don wan a beatin yah hear?"

"Hey Chicuru, what's goin on out there?"

"I don know boss. Sum fella's standin in the middle of the road. Jus starin at the groun"

"Well kill 'em an be done with it."

"All righ boss, if ya say so."

As the bandit named Chicuru moved towards Naruto, the boy let his hood fall back. A shocked gasp was all that had time to escape the bandit's mouth as Naruto's hand shot forward, grabbed the man, and snapped his neck. As soon as the others heard the loud crack of the broken bone they grabbed their spears and clubs and moved to attack Naruto. With a single flick of his wrist he disposed of the first of his targets and after taking a second to savor the looks of fear on the faces of his enemies, his mind turned inward. To the pain in his gut, the pain he knew to be some entity of chakra. And he pulled it up with all his might.

Red chakra exploded from his body as whisker marks carved themselves into his cheeks anew, now pitch black, almost as if they were tatoos. After but a moment the chakra settled itself into the rough shape of his body and a single tail formed. And with this new power Naruto launched himself forward, literally ripping the bandits apart.

As the limbs flew Naruto once again disappeared in flash, coming to rest in the center of the camp. Sending out a single pulse of chakra to identify his targets, Naruto called his chains into being. Formed of his now red chakra, they sought out every single man within that camp. Impaling each in turn, only a few made it past them, desperately trying to either escape or attack the boy. Naruto cared little, charging water natured chakra is his hands, forming two massive whips from his energy.

Lashing out with his new weapons he grabbed all those trying to escape, right before crushing them. With only three remaining; Naruto charged earth chakra in his right hand and wind in his left. Striking two of the bandits simultaneously; the first simply exploded, the other having his body ripped into shreds. With his mission all but complete, Naruto allowed the last bandit to reach him, and then grabbed the man's head. After only a moment of contact with his toxic chakra Naruto dropped him. Seeing that the man's face was burned and that he was blind, Naruto reigned in his power, placed his mask back on his face, and walked off. Already preparing for his debriefing and ready to finally take a shower again.

 **AN:Thanks for reading all the way to the end and I hope the story wasn't too bad.**


	2. The Great Leap Forward

**AN Hey guys, looks like this gonna be an irregular thing. Anyways, to answer the reviewer blood enraged (who had PMs turned off), no the changes did not turn him gay. It was basically his bloodline being tricked into manifesting as I was told that the healing blood was a female only bloodline in canon.**

 **Anyways, like usual I want you guys to be brutal in your critiques! Every little spelling and grammar error and call out anything you thought was stupid or poorly done. I won't get any better if you don't. And pay particular attention to the fight scenes, I want you to really tear into those!**

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

" **Demon speech and techniques** "

You all know Star Wars is owned by Disney and Naruto is owned by Kishimoto and I am neither.

 **49 BBY Month 6**

Launching himself at his master, Naruto opened with his favorite move. A devastating axe kick. His heel spike granting him an advantage almost no one would expect or have trained to counter. Waiting as his master reacted by parrying his kick to the side, Naruto used the momentum to his advantage, snapping another kick at his teacher. Who then reacted with a block, transitioned into a grab, and finally threw the boy clear across their training room.

Rolling and then sinking his claws into the training room floor, Naruto relied on his claws to anchor his body weight while he gave the room a quick once over, preparing for any hidden droids to ambush him. The twenty square meter, five meter tall grey room with dura-crete floor was almost completely bare; only his claw marks and the small joins of the hidden panels in the ceiling marring an otherwise perfectly smooth room. Deciding that he wasn't about to be ambushed, Naruto launched himself forward again.

Opening with a series of three rapid jabs, Naruto couldn't help but laugh at how quickly his master reacted to each blow. Anticipating his masters double palm thrust, he quickly shifted to the side, aiming a kick at his master's knee, only for Revan to block the kick and retaliate with one of his own. After hopping back, Naruto took a moment to reflect on how efficient his teacher's style was. The simple fact being that each of Naruto's strikes would kill a normal human outright, yet his teacher could take a dozen hits and strike back twice as hard. That his master was so effective against him only illustrated the power and experience Revan possessed.

Preparing himself to open with another combo, Naruto scanned his teacher for opening or weaknesses. His two meter tall Master had his waist length black hair tied behind him, while his chest length beard twitched in amusement at his students glare. On a normal person that hair would be a vulnerability, on his teacher it was an invitation to take one of his Force enhanced blows to the face for your trouble. The simple black robes his teacher wore, now somewhat torn, offered no vulnerabilities either. Any possible handholds being easily reached by his teachers strikes far before Naruto could throw him.

Figuring that his best bet would lie in being unpredictable, Naruto came in from his Master's left side this time. Opening with a quick snap kick before lunging forward with a knife hand, Naruto let his Master grab his extended wrist. And then promptly brought his teacher into a hip toss. As soon as his master entered the air Revan twisted and brought his legs underneath his body and launched himself at Naruto's knees. Letting his master go to avoid having his knees snapped Naruto readied himself once again, turning to face his teacher just in time to see the man land on his fingertips, launch himself ten meters back, and slip back into an easy ready stance.

Naruto mirrored his master, one hand at his waist, the other with palm facing out, both open and ready to snap into a fist or slide into a block at the slightest provocation, and with his knees bent and in a wide stance. This time his teacher came at him, launching a series of enhanced spear hands, jabbing into the parries and occasional blocks of his student, each strike rattling bones. At the end of the exchange Naruto launched into a simple series of strikes, attacking in short patterns, trying to trap his master in a sequence, just to attack from an unexpected direction. After a few minutes of their blows shaking the room, Naruto slipped into a wide stance throwing a reinforced elbow, spike ready to taste blood.

His Master only had one choice and that was to block with a hand, leading to Naruto scoring first blood as he impaled his teachers palm. Unfortunately for Naruto, his Master did not take the blow well, quickly slamming his uninjured hand into Naruto's unprotected abdomen and launching the boy into the far wall, causing a portion of it to collapse onto his charge. Not allowing the boy a chance to recover. His master moved to strike him, Naruto used his own Master's favorite combo against him, a quick palm strike to the offending limb, and a retaliatory spear hand of his own. Feeling his fingertips cutting some of his Master's beard, Naruto could only grunt when he felt his whole body take a hit in return.

After climbing out of the now much deeper hole in the wall, he noticed that his Master was chuckling. In a brief flash of white energy the injury to his Master's left hand disappeared, however his Master did not re-engage. Knowing what was about to come, Naruto was more than ready to receive the combat droids as they fell from the ceiling.

Twenty large machines dropped from holes in the ceiling. Each landing in a small crouch before launching themselves forward. The first met its end at Naruto's claws, a double spear hand ripping through the machine's arms before impaling its torso. With a twist of his arms, Naruto sent the remains of his first target into two other combat droids, shredding them. Turning to confront a fourth enemy, he jumped, landed on the machine's head, grabbed it by its neck, and dropped down to the floor while snapping his target's spine on his shoulder. A quick slash of his claws guaranteed the kill. With only a fifth of his targets down, the rest had moved into position and surrounded him.

Now engaged by sixteen enemies, even if they were much weaker than him, he had been pushed to finally use his powers. Drawing upon the Force, Naruto focused for a single moment, willing his enemies destruction. At that moment sixteen bolts of red lightning leapt from his hands; striking the remaining machines in the chest. As soon as the tainted energy touched the droids each had their internal components fried and large sections of their chassis disintegrated by the fell energy.

Revan was astonished, his eight year old apprentice had not only beaten him in a spar, but had mastered his unique form of **Force Lightning**. As Revan's own techniques were usually purple or blue, he was quite surprised when his student began unleashing red bolts of all things. However, that pailed in comparison to the damage those red bolts could do. If fully suppressed, his own lightning would only cause intense pain and mild electrical burns. His students earliest attempts with the lightning had completely disintegrated his targets. And amusingly it seems his apprentice had finally achieved a measure of control of his power.

Smiling, Revan decided it was time to inform his student of his plans for the future, then begin preparing the holocrons for his apprentice's future use.

Dropping from the now exposed catwalk over the training room floor, Revan began, "Naruto, I believe it is time to bring your training to a climax. You have mastered the basics of everything I have to teach you. In time I have no doubt you shall discover many, perhaps even all, of the higher mysteries of the Force. Unfortunately, your training in the natural powers of your homeworld has suffered. It is time to rectify that error."

"Master, by this, you mean to send me after the scroll of seals?"

"Of course my apprentice, you didn't think all those months of watching Mizuki and Kabuto would go to waste did you? It goes without saying that I would not send you on such boring and pointless missions every two weeks if there was not a purpose. Other than training your stealth skills that is."

"If nothing else, you have impressed the need to master the more mundane arts and skills. Even when the Force does provide an answer, Master."

"And do you not remember the stories I told you of how one of my own students slipped on a pebble, lost his concentration, dropped his **Force Cloak** , and was then engaged and subsequently killed by republic conscripts?"

"I remember, Master."

"Good, because after your next mission, ARMR and I have decided to unlock your next two bloodlines. We have both felt things accelerating and I believe Mizuki will strike tomorrow night. And your vision of giant serpents attacking the village means that it is likely that the traitor sannin will attack soon, within a few years at the absolute most."

"I will be ready, my Master. You have given me permission to assist the Hokage and repay the debt of my childhood. And with this I will sever the last of my ties as Uzumaki Naruto. I _will_ be ready to claim my title and robes."

With a chuckle, Revan simply responded with "good" and left the training room, jumping into the ceiling and replacing the tile with a wave of his hand. Mulling over ARMR's latest reports and the changes still occurring within his student's body. Even after the first experiment, side effects were planned for, but his student's seemingly constant evolution was interesting. In fact, the only reason they were going to operate on him so soon was the fact that they had to know if the boy's body would fail. That these two traits would strengthen his "chakra coils" were only a pleasant coincidence. Of course, he wouldn't be able to teach his student constantly like he had been. Oh he'd teach him as much as he could, but he'd probably make sure the boy was secure in his mindscape, leave as many manuscripts on sith alchemy and the jedi techniques for making weapons as possible, and let his student work. This way he could monitor his condition in real time and allow his student to figure out a plan for making a weapon that would fit him.

The fact that his student would likely end up at around three hundred and twenty centimeters tall meant that normal blades would simply be too short for him. Add to that he'd need custom fitted armor, robes, and redesigned blasters large enough for his hands. Chuckling, Revan decided it was a good thing the base had manufacturing capabilities, however limited.

Sixteen Hours Later

Naruto was confident and he had good reason to be. Mizuki had apparently been hiding his true skills for quite some time. The man was considered low chunin at best and his combat skills fit in that range. But his infiltration skills, there the man truly shined. Naruto would rate the man a high A rank or low S rank in infiltration and evasion abilities.

It even seemed the man was talented enough to steal multiple jutsu scrolls from secure locations, intelligent enough to target people who wouldn't report the thefts, and even skilled enough to copy techniques from others he observed. However, the man had very, very little skill for combat. After months of observation, a bit of mind reading, and a good dose of profiling, Naruto had estimated the man's bukijutsu at low C rank, his genjutsu at high D rank, and all other combat skills barely better than a gennin. According to his observations, Kabuto had picked up on the man's discontent, as well as his hidden skills, and convinced him that Orochimaru would give the man power if he proved himself.

Suffice to say Naruto knew that was highly unlikely. If it wasn't for the sannin's known pastime of experimenting on living subjects, he'd expect Kabuto to have killed the man long ago. Though the fact that Mizuki had not only acquired the Scroll of Seals, but then escaped the ANBU and ROOT that were hunting him, long enough to reach the dead drop at least, impressed Naruto. Unfortunately for Mizuki this meant the boy planned to slit his throat from behind rather than give him a chance to escape or fight back.

And with those thoughts Naruto returned to his own mind, having been monitoring the situation through the Force, and prepared for his target to enter the clearing he was currently waiting in. Having decided to hide in a hollow formed by three trees having grown together, the apprentice silently readied his knife. At that very moment Mizuki appeared between in the clearing, out of breath and carrying a massive scroll. As Naruto began to creep towards his target, the boy focused his hearing on the man's muttering.

"Damn ANBU, almost killed me. Thank god that idiot Iruka startled me, otherwise I'd be dead now. 'Course I wasn't able to finish the bastard off, but those cuts are gonna scar." With a short chuckle, the man began to stand up, ready to resume his flight.

It was that exact moment Naruto struck, one hand wrapped tightly around the man's mouth, the other shoving a thirty centimeter knife into the side of his target's neck. The move followed up with a quick outward slash, ripping the man's trachea, esophagus, and vocal cords apart. Mizuki struggled for a few moments, but against the strength of the Sith it was no use. And in ten seconds the man had entered shock, within another ten he was dead.

Securing the scroll, Naruto moved out. Not bothering to clean the body, or himself, the Force cloaking his scent, and his skills preventing a single sound alerting anyone to his presence, the apprentice had accomplished his main objective, and all that remained was to escape. A quick dash forward and a leap into the treetops, Naruto began to move as quickly as he could. The tracking teams were searching for Mizuki and his scent wouldn't be found unless they investigated the man's corpse thoroughly enough to detect the scent of the dark side. And even then his trail would be long dead by the time they figured out where he was headed.

Eight Hours Later

Naruto organized his thoughts, ready to once again retreat to his mindscape for a full five years of training. Idly, he pondered whether this meant he was still eight or should be be considered fifteen at this point? Afterall, he had lived fifteen years, perhaps not in the physical world, but the fact of the matter was that he was quite simply not a child. Frowning a bit, the boy considered how the villagers had treated him, had he ever been a child? Of course he had been scared, ignorant, and alone, but he had never been naive or unintelligent. Living on the streets tends to sharpen anyone and even when he had a "home" it was more often than not vandalized. And even with his orphan's stipend he had scavenged for food more than once. Relaxing himself, and suppressing the darkside energy that threatened to unbalance him, he turned to the present.

His master had been quite pleased with the results of his mission. Even now, the Scroll of Seals was waiting for him in his quarters. The fact that his master was pleased with him along with the fact that the scrolls he had stolen or salvaged over the years were waiting for him was quite the pleasant thought. With his training, he no longer felt true emotions, and the contentment that had replaced joy would be considered strange to almost anyone, but to him it was the one positive feeling he permitted himself. And the feeling grew, ever so slightly, at the thought that when he finished this training period he would be even more powerful. Yes, the coming training would be quite useful, especially if he finally decided on his weapon.

Within Naruto's Mindscape

Naruto had just finished his tasks for the "day" and his master had left to monitor his condition when he felt something _shift_. At first he looked at the beast he knew to be the Kyuubi no Yoko, for some reason he always had the feeling that it was off, but now, it felt no different. Looking around his mindscape, he noticed what appeared to be a seal now forming at the base of the altar that formed the crux of the main room of his mind. Strange symbols, a handful of which he recognized from his very basic understanding of fuinjutsu, began to fill the air, and with a flash of bright, yellow light, energy filled the room. Now standing in the center of the room was a blond haired, blue eyed, and somewhat tall human male. At first Naruto was interested enough to not immediately attack what appeared to be a complete stranger in his mind, and it was thanks to that moment of hesitation that he recognized the man as the Yondaime Hokage, the man his Master believed to be his father, Namikaze Minato.

Deciding to test his Master's theory, Naruto called out, "Father?"

Gasping, Minato turned to the red skinned being who called out to him, and stuttering badly, responded with "Nar-Naruto!?"

"Yes, my name is Uzumaki Naruto, and you are Namikaze Minato, my father, correct?"

"How...how can you be my son? I mean, I know you have to be him, otherwise we wouldn't be able to communicate, but what happened to you?"

"I could ask you the same thing, you are dead, are you not?"

Frowning a bit, the man, in a rather mournful tone, replied, "Yes, Naruto, your mother and I both died that night. However, we sealed a portion of our chakra within you, along with the Kyuubi, in order to protect you should the Kyuubi ever try to take over, or you channeled too much of the beasts chakra for your body to handle. And I know it may seem rude my son, but I must know how you came to be like...this."

With a small smile, and in a polite tone, Naruto responded, "I take no offense father, and the answer is simple enough. I was dying. I had been chased into training ground forty four by a drunken shinobi, stumbled down an incline, and found my way to what I believed to be a treasure. At the end of my journey I was confronted by a giant bear and in my desperation I inflicted enough structural damage to one of the construction tunnels of a hidden base to cause it to collapse. In order to keep me alive, they changed me into what I am now."

"And what are you my son?"

"I am Sith."

"I...I do not understand. But I do not have time for you to explain everything. My chakra will run out rather quickly, but if you were attacked as a child, and...changed, you must lack proper shinobi training. Tell me what you know and I'll try to point you in the right direction or help fill in holes.", turning to himself, "Or maybe I should just give him a general overview…"

Astonished, Naruto couldn't help himself, he had to ask, "Why?", and to his further astonishment his father replied, "Son, clearly I failed to protect you that night. In fact, the only reason I sealed the Kyuubi within you was the fact that it would have killed literally anyone else in the village, escaped, and then killed you. I...I regret having to turn my own son into a jinchuriki. And since I failed you then, I'll do everything I can now." Walking up to his much taller son, Namikaze Minato embraced his child, "And right before I go, I'll call Kushina-chan up, explain everything to her, and we'll be a family for a few minutes."

Naruto began to shake, he felt something warm on his face. Touching it, he realized he was crying. He hadn't cried since he had begun his training. No matter how much pain he was in, no matter what tortures were inflicted upon him, no matter what he had to do, he _never_ cried. Reaching out, he stiffly embraced his father, knowing this was the one thing he had always wanted, his family, and it was the one thing he would never have. Frowning, he focused, bending the Force to his will, hiding his emotions from his master, not wanting him to intrude on what little time he would ever have with his parents. At that, he turned back to his father, now standing a few meters away from him, inspecting the runes within his mind, and with a small smile, Naruto called out to him.

Four Days Later - Mindscape

"Alright Naruto-kun, that should just about cover it, and while I know you've probably memorized everything I've told you, repeat back what you need to learn once you finish with your augmentation!"

"Yes father. First, I must secure theory scrolls for genjutsu, fuinjutsu, and if possible, advanced scrolls of kenjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu. The theory scrolls will allow me to begin my self study in two of the most important areas of the shinobi arts and the advanced scrolls will allow me to integrate shinobi styles into my already existing combat skills. Secondly, if and when I decide to make contact with Konoha, remember the specific code words and pass phrases to inform the Hokage I am friendly. Finally, the seals and actions necessary to deactivate the protections around the Uzumaki-Namikaze compound are completely memorized."

"Good job Naruto-kun, now, Kushina-chan should be along in just a few minutes." And with that, a second set of seals appeared around the base of the central altar. A second, this time red, flash of light appeared, and in the center of the chamber a red haired, violet eyed woman now stood.

"Minato-kun why are you here, weren't we supposed to appear at different times? And who is that?"

"Hello Kushina-chan, now, I want you to take a deep breath. I have something I need to tell you and I don't think you're going to like it."

"What are you talking about? And where is Naruto-kun? Unless...no, you can't be."

"Yes Kushina, this is Naruto."

Even though Naruto's face didn't show it, his chest was hurting. He didn't blame his mother, he knew what he looked like after all. And he couldn't really expect her to have the same reaction as his father had. With that thought he felt someone hug him. Looking down, he realized his mother had crossed about twenty meters in less than a second, impressive on its on, but the fact he hadn't even noticed until she grabbed onto him and started quietly crying almost broke him. Listening closely, he could hear her repeating one phrase over and over, "My poor baby".

Considering this was the second time he had ever been hugged and that he had not only expected, but had seen the first one coming, that he stood ramrod straight and was completely unsure of what to do in this situation was understandable. Slowly hugging his mother back, he began to speak, to explain what he had become.

"Mother, I know I look...strange. But I promise that this was what was best for me. I had been...injured and I was changed in order to save my life."

Hiccuping, Kushina regained control of herself and began to speak, "Oh my poor child. How were you injured? Hiruzen should have protected you, he should have had ANBU watching over you. And who did this to you? But first...you...you aren't in any pain are you?"

"Of course not mother. In fact, I feel great. I am blessed with healing, beyond even that of a jinchuriki. As to who did this to me, well I truly do not know how best to explain what he is. Perhaps you should think of him as a very, very advanced puppet. One that could think for himself. And he goes by the name ARMR, an acronym, one that stands for Advanced Rehabilitation and Medical Research facility. Finally, to answer how I was injured, it is somewhat embarrassing. I awoke our chakra chains and caused a collapse of a tunnel and ended up being almost crushed by a giant bear."

Smiling for the first time since her appearance, "I'm so happy you inherited my adamantine sealing chains, how far along have you come with them? Do they look just like mine? And how does the biju chakra affect your chains? And-"

Minato, chuckling interrupted the conversation, "Now, now Kushina-chan, give the boy some space. You'll have plenty of time to discuss his powers once I'm gone.

Blushing, Kushina did just that, pulling back from her son, "Of course. Sorry about that Naruto-kun. Anyways, why don't you start telling us about how things have gone for you. And tell us all about your teacher!"

And so Naruto did. For the rest of the day he talked to his parents. Simply spending time with them. They would tell him stories and amusing anecdotes about their friends and he did his best to understand them. Considering he had only left the base on missions, he had very few stories he could tell them about his own life, but he did share what he could of Revan's adventures. In the beginning they were rather confused by the concept of there being an entire galaxy filled with sentient beings, but Naruto's memories of the advanced technology and the few pictures he had seen of aliens convinced them. After that day had passed, Minato had run out of chakra, and disappeared after adding on that Naruto should find some chakra paper when he next went out. And while he was saddened, he kept up his mask, spending as much time as he could with his mother.

It was most definitely time well spent, with his mother helping to refine his chains, explain what she knew of the Uzumaki clan, and explaining quite a bit more about fuinjutsu. And it wasn't enough for him, he felt...unfulfilled. For the first time in his life he had been part of the one thing he had always desired. And now, now it would be ripped away from him. But rather than brood he threw himself into his training. With his master bringing him more work everyday that passed in the real world, Naruto never lacked for materials. And with his focus now on building up his shinobi skills he felt he would need far more than the five years the accelerated time in his mindscape would give him.

 **48 BBY Month 1**

Finally, he was ready. After his augmentations were complete it had taken him a full month to grow used to his new strength and reach his old level of skill and proficiency. But now he had finally stopped bumping into tables and breaking every glass he picked up. Rather significantly, he was strong enough that training droids were no longer useful. He would simply rip them apart or crush them with anything but his lightest blows and his master lacked the rapid healing he possessed, limiting his physical training. But that simply meant his Force and shinobi training had been taken to a new level. He had mastered the **Force Cloak** ability along with a few other powers and his shinobi training had exploded forward by leaps and bounds.

At first he had only been able to learn the clone techniques and a few variations on them. However, once he had mastered the **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** , he began to create massive swarms of shadow clones to train in the other techniques. In order to counter the mental fatigue he simply began meditating for several hours a day. Which in turn allowed him to process the massive numbers of clones dispelling and strengthened his mental resistance as well. All of which had led to his confidence in this mission: Securing the mask of the shinigami, freeing his father's soul, and absorbing the yin half of the kyuubi.

Mentally reviewing his equipment: Belt of throwing knives, boot knife, two durasteel short swords, grey robes and armor. Simple and light, he wasn't attacking an enemy base, but dodging patrols and slipping past defensive lines.

With a final review of the route he was planning to take and his escape routes in case the mission went bad, he was prepared. Opening the cover to the tunnel that led into the base he quickly took to the trees, ready to attack anyone who may have seen him leave. Sensing no one nearby, he pulsed his chakra, confirming that no entities with more chakra than would be expected from a small insect were present. Moving quickly he began hopping from tree to tree, dashing through the forest and relying on his **Force Cloak** and speed to hide him from any possible observers.

It had taken him a full three hours to slip past the gates of Konoha, the exact same two chunin on guard as always. Though Naruto did wonder why those two were always the gate guards, did they possess enhanced senses or a resistance to genjutsu? Maybe some technique that would allow them to detect lies or maybe just a set of skills that allowed them to notice the slightest discrepancies in documentation? Afterall, a military village would never post two incompetents at the main entrance to their village. Hell, considering they were ninja the pair were probably ex-ANBU who were masters at suppressing their own strength. And if they were tasked with serving as the first line of defense, Naruto did not wish to be forced into battle with two individuals who were clearly village elites. Of course the much higher numbers of fake ANBU running around hadn't helped things either.

All of this had Naruto's instincts all but screaming at him that something was going to happen. And considering this happened after he spoke to his parents, well he had no doubt that this was somehow connected to the shift in the kyuubi's chakra. Possibly something to do with the fact his own reserves had grown as well. Though he had nothing to compare them to, his father believed he was likely close to absorbing all of the yang chakra. Meaning he was closing in on the level of the hachibi bijuu, without considering his own insane reserves from his upgraded body. So it was not inconceivable he had set off emergency seals, even with him suppressing as much of his chakra as he could.

Thankfully he had reached the temple already and was now detecting at least fifteen chakra signatures either stationed around or approaching the ruins. Luckily, only three of them were of any significance, though one did feel very, very strange. Almost like two people in one body, with multiple areas of heightened chakra along one of the individual's arms. Strange, but not a great cause for worry. And since it would be pointless to try talking his way past these people, considering they were all dressed like the fake ANBU Naruto drew his twin blades and prepared himself for battle.

Dropping down from the tree he was hiding in, he broke out of cover, charging a group of four ninja. The first two died easily; his swords through their throats, and the fallen ninja choking on their own blood. The next two ninja, one a shinobi, the other a kunoichi, launched themselves towards Naruto, drawing a kunai and chokuto respectively. Dropping into a low stance, Naruto parried the kunai and blocked the sword. Locking his blades with his enemy's weapons, stepping forward, and slamming downwards, he used his superior strength to overpower his foe and drive the locked blades into her body. With the kunoichi killed by her own weapon, and her arms broken even if she still lived, he turned to his next opponent. The shinobi jumped back, moving to join the second squad of ninja to arrive at the temple. Deciding to avoid fighting near or within such a fragile structure, Naruto took to the trees, leading his opponents to a safer battle ground.

After a short run he stopped in the middle of a clearing. About fifty meters end to end and relatively flat and even, Naruto decided this would be the best place to engage his opponents. Turning about and letting the hood of training robes fall, he noticed that all but the three strongest of his opponents had arrived. As a group the shinobi move, three forward and three to each of his sides. Stopping roughly ten meters away, the three charging slip into a set of hand seals. The first calls out **Katon: Endan** , the second **Raiton: Raigeki** , and the third **Fuuton: Renkuudan** , the three techniques combining to form a stream of lightning enhanced liquid fire, burning at temperatures so high the flames were blue and white instead of red and yellow. Reaching out with the Force, Naruto grabbed the incoming flames and gathered them. Focusing as much energy as he could, he launched the volatile mixture back at the three stunned shinobi, catching the group with their own technique. Luckily for the shinobi, they all died instantly, the flames burning through their skin, boiling the fat in their bodies, vaporizing the water in their blood, and ripping their bones apart long before they felt any pain.

The other two squads immediately launched barrages of projectiles, trying to overwhelm Naruto with the sheer number of weapons thrown. Using a Force enhanced jump to dodge, Naruto found himself sinking to the ground, now turned into quicksand. Substituting with a nearby branch, he found himself overlooking six now evenly spread shinobi, all with weapons drawn and with one hand forming a seal. Sensing the three stronger enemies approaching, and rapidly at that, Naruto prepared his throwing knives, intending to finish off the remaining shinobi in the next clash.

With a flick of his wrist Naruto launched six of his throwing knives while slipping through the seals for the **Shuriken Kage Bunshin** , silently multiplying his weapons by a factor of twenty. The remaining ROOT attempted to block the oncoming knives with a combination of earth jutsu, however the sheer power behind each weapon and the strength of the durasteel blades ripped through the hastily erected barriers, skewering the six ninja. Pulsing his chakra to confirm the kills, Naruto felt the three strongest shinobi approaching the edge of the clearing. Sighing, he decided it would be best to meet them in the open, no sense letting them dictate the engagement, and the previous fight had been rather boring. Grinning, Naruto decided he was going to have a bit of fun. Jumping into the center of the clearing and turning his back to where he knew his enemies would come from, Naruto couldn't stop a dark chuckle from rumbling through him as he slipped his mask off and attached it to his belt.

Shimura Danzo was _not_ in a good mood. He had barely finished with that bastard Orochimaru the day before and now his men were being butchered. Sighing, Danzo chided himself, "I knew that traitor would try something, I knew he was after the mask. At least my men were able to drive him back for a bit. It was a shame losing those squads though. They might not have been my best men, but they were some of my most effective units.", calming himself, Danzo returned to the task at hand. After about fifteen minutes of running he and his two men had reached the clearing his men had been lead to.

Upon arriving the first thing he noticed was the smell of burnt flesh and after a few seconds, the almost completely destroyed remains of what looked like three of his ninja. Moving into the clearing itself, he then noticed the large man standing with his back to the now approaching shinobi. And by large, he meant _large_. The man was at least two hundred and thirty centimeters, maybe more, and broad. Frankly, this was probably the largest person Danzo had ever seen, and most likely not Orochimaru. If for no other reason than the ground length grey robes and the strange, almost samurai like, armor he was wearing. Deciding it would be best to gather information on his unknown opponent, Danzo gestured for his two shinobi to break off and take up flanking positions while he stepped forward.

"Who are you and why have you attacked my men?" While he wasn't expecting the man to reveal who he was or who he was working for, he did not expect the man to simply turn around and drop the hood of his robes. Eyes widening, Danzo was terrified. The _thing_ looked like it had once been the jinchuuriki of the kyuubi, if those whiskers were anything to go by, and the fact that he could see hints of Minato and Kushina in the creature's facial structure seemed to make a mockery of the Yondaime Hokage and his wife. After that the thing smiled, its facial tendrils curling up as its lips parted, revealing far too many black, pointed teeth. Reacting, Danzo decided this monster was worth risking his new arm. Ripping the bandages over his face and arm away, he ordered his subordinates to attack.

"Mizunoe, Mizunoto, attack. Now!"

"Hai, Danzo-Sama!"

Preparing a fire jutsu, Danzo continued his charge, intending to hit his target at point blank range. But what happened next stopped him cold. Two of his best ROOT, both kenjutsu masters, had their swords stopped by this thing's hands. And in that moment of shock, the creature attacked; grabbing the swords of both men and yanking them forward. As soon as they were in range, he reached over and grabbed both by their faces, crushing their masks, and slammed them into the ground. Danzo could only watch in horror as their faces were caved in by the impact, reducing their heads to a pulpy red mess. It was at that moment a terrible calm overcame him. Almost as if every emotion he had ever felt had been an illusion.

Calmly jumping in zig zag pattern he rapidly ran through two sets of one hand seals, first shouting out **Fuuton: Shinkuu Taigyoku** and with his next breath **Mokuton: Exploding Tree Spear**! The combo was simple, wait for the opponent to dodge or counter the blast of wind chakra and then let the swarm of roots impale them. What he was not expecting was for his right arm to severed in the next moment, the creature standing behind him, holding his arm, and black claws shining in moonlight thanks to the coating of Danzo's own blood. Knowing his only chance at survival was to use Izanagi, he swiftly activated the power, sacrificing his most powerful eye, but surviving.

After a second he had reformed, now blind in his right eye, but once again in possession of his sharingan implanted arm. Activating all of them he rushed forward, unsealing his sword from his gauntlets as he charged. The _thing_ clashed with him, easily parrying every blow he struck. However, his goal wasn't to defeat the monster with kenjutsu, but to lure the creature close enough to destroy with his **Ura Shisho Fuin**. His Izanagi would allow him to escape and the monster would be slain in one blow. Noticing a slight misstep with the creature placing his foot into a dip in the ground, Danzo struck. Activating Izanagi and promptly impaling himself on the creatures sword, the last thing he felt was the **Ura Shisho Fuin** activating. As with his arm, everything went dark before he fazed back into reality, with another sharingan blind, and staring at a massive black sphere No longer feeling that monster's chakra, faint as it was, he leaned back onto a tree, deciding to rest before summoning more ROOT. And it was at that exact moment he heard chuckling and thump as something hit the ground behind him.

Naruto had to admit, he was impressed. This man, Danzo if Naruto was reading his mind correctly, had endured a focused burst of **Force Insanity** and hadn't done anything aside from breathing a bit harder. That the man had then had the presence of mind to order his subordinates to attack and prepare his own techniques meant that Naruto started paying attention. When the man somehow regenerated his arm, teleported, and replenished his reserves with a single technique, whose only cost seemed to be one of his sharingan, Naruto cracked a smile. Of course he wasn't stupid, he had swapped out with a shadow clone the second the man reacted to his soldiers gruesome death. Hell, that was whole point of killing those men in such a brutal fashion. His father had warned him about the man and mentioned it was highly likely he knew several suicide techniques, so Naruto decided to play it safe. It wasn't like he wouldn't get the memories later. And it wasn't like he'd been lounging around either, a pair of shadow clones retrieving his weapons and burning his earlier kills meant he'd be free to leave once he was done with Danzo.

But that suicide technique had truly surprised him. Using his ressurection technique and suicide technique together is something no one would expect or plan for, if only because the former seemed to be unique to this man, and well hidden as his father had no knowledge of such an ability. With a small smile Naruto dropped to the ground,unleashing the **Force Insanity** once again. And his smile almost disappeared when the man froze, but it returned twice as big when the man vomited wind chakra over his sword and struck out at twice as fast as he had been attacking. It was when his blades met the wind chakra coated sword and began to crack that Naruto decided that this man might take too long to kill. While he wasn't a threat to Naruto, Danzo could still come back to life several more times, and Naruto wasn't sure when ANBU would arrive to investigate the earlier battles.

Deciding to end the fight right then and there, Naruto lashed out with the Force, launching Danzo through several trees with a telekinetic blow. Before the man could recover, Naruto launched himself forward, cratering the ground once again, and severed the man's mutated arm. Immediately spinning on his heel, Naruto turned into his blow and with a perfect horizontal slash, decapitated the man he had been fighting. Watching as Danzo fell to his knees and then toppled over, Naruto was already in motion. Quickly, he grabbed Danzo's severed limbs and jumped back as the **Ura Shisho Fuin** activated once again. As he had absolutely no way to cover up the seals activation, Naruto simply used his earth manipulation to bury the remains several dozen meters underground. Deciding the limbs would have too much potential to waste, especially all those eyes, Naruto wrapped them up with part of his roughspun cloak and moved out, fully intending to acquire the other half of the Kyuubi before the night was over.

 **Fifteen Minutes Later**

Naruto had made it back to the temple and had found the needed mask. And while he was not looking forward to disemboweling himself, he did have the advantage that it would heal before he bled to death. So, with a small frown, he removed the top half of his robes, his mask, and his upper armor, while drawing one of his swords and placing the Uzumaki mask over his face. When the Shinigami appeared, Naruto could not fight the shiver that ran up his spine. He felt this...death god through the Force _and_ as a chakra entity. Deciding to be rather quick about his mission, he disemboweled himself, freeing several souls from the stomach of the god, and grabbed the soul of his father.

Teasing the Yin chakra from his father's soul, Naruto found it rather interesting that the manipulation of the soul was such a simple thing. In fact he had expected this entire ordeal to be far more unpleasant. And even as he merged the Yin half of the Kyuubi with his body, the sensations were only mildly unpleasant, feeling as if he had been shocked and then exposed to a burst of rather cold air, but considering he was fusing with half of the most powerful chakra entity to exist, well, he was a bit disappointed.

Redressing and making sure all of his equipment was secured took less than five minutes. In ten he made it back to the gates of Konoha, now with a group of six seemingly chunin level guards. And as when he slipped past the guards on his way out he threw up a **Force Cloak** , blocked any sounds or smells from escaping, and took his time sneaking past the gate guards. Thankfully, none of the shinobi noticed him slipping between the group and not a single one even blinked when he ran a bit of Force energy through his limbs and took off. With the ROOT in hiding, thanks to all the ANBU running about, Naruto was able to move much more quickly, allowing him to reach his base within only a few hours.

Revan was tired. For more than three years he had fought against the growing corruption within him. And the worst thing was that he knew what it was, or at least he had an idea. It was as if the dark side of the Force was slipping into his thoughts, yet it was not. This...corruption had purpose and direction; it targeted his memories, warped them, and tried to drive him closer and closer to insanity with every step. To his knowledge the Force had no such direction, even if it did occasionally direct the paths of those sensitive to it.

But he was not feared and worshipped as one of the greatest without reason; even now he fought the corruption, even now he trained his student. Though the boy was already reaching the point that Revan would have little left to offer him. Perhaps a bit of help or a small push in the right direction for some of the more obscure powers, but even then the boy would likely surpass him in a matter of months. Maybe it was time to give the boy Surik's holocron. Considering he had already mastered the use of **Shatterpoint** and the **Death Field** , while understanding the theory for both the **Force Rebirth** and **Force Devour** abilities… Revan was dithering, Naruto could be said to have mastered all of Sion's and Nihlus's unique powers and their holocrons no longer held value for his training. Yes, after he was finished with this mission he would give the boy the holocron and prepare the materials for the making of the boys sword.

Feeling his students presence within the base, Revan moved to see about the boy's mission, but was surprised when ARMR began to speak, "Ah, master, there seems to have been an emergency."

"What's wrong?"

"The young master has fallen unconscious and his chakra has visibly manifested."

Without wasting another moment, Revan leapt forward, channeling the Force through his limbs and moving as swiftly as he could. "ARMR, what happened?"

"I apologize master, but I detected no anomalies in the young master's vitals."

Grunting, Revan skidded to a halt outside of the medical bay. As the doors opened he saw the child writhing on the floor, coated in the red energy of the beast he contained. Taking in every little detail of the scene, the six tails, the fact that the boy's skin seemed to have burned off, and that his students armor and weapons had been damaged by the energy. That this power was enough to eat through durasteel and yet his student did not cry out brought a powerful feeling of pride to Revan's heart, as well as a murmur of fear. A single thought, 'If he's this strong, how strong will he become? Strong enough to slay me, as all sith slay their masters…', slipped into his mind. Stopping in his movement, Revan centered himself, turned his powers inward, and drove the thought out.

Once he was ready, the old conqueror channeled the Force into his hands and picked his student up. Ignoring the flecks of energy the burned spots on his skin, Revan dashed forward, moving towards the medical bay, fully intent on saving his apprentice.

Naruto was in a rather intense amount of pain. Not as much as when he had been tortured by his Master, but still a rather significant degree of discomfort. However, he knew that this most likely had something to do with taking half of a biju into his body. And after cursing his earlier disappointment in the lack of a serious event upon his merging, he focused through the pain and made his way into his mindscape.

Finding himself standing in what he now recognized as a sith tomb, he looked about. Runes covered the walls, easily half of them were black with the rest being a dark purple closer to red than black. Strangely enough, a new set of runes were seemingly being carved underneath those currently there. Deciding to ignore this, as it was most likely his body assimilating the rest of the kyuubi, he moved forward. Noticing a few other changes, the statues seemed to have gained features and now seemed to be holding swords. Naruto realized something rather significant must have happened, or would happen once this confrontation was over.

And upon reaching the central chamber of his mind he immediately noticed the massive red fox screaming and raging about in the pit around the central dais. Deciding to observe his opponent, and he had little doubt he would have to subdue the beast, he noticed thin streams of chakra tieing the beast to the dias as well as the fact that the Kyuubi seemed to be mostly orange instead of the red he had been expecting. Finally having looked enough, he walked into the room proper and introduced himself.

"Hello, I am Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto. Who are you?"

" **NINGEN! RELEASE ME AT ONCE!** "

"Why would I do that?"

" **SO THAT I MIGHT DEVOUR YOU**!"

"And how would that benefit me?"

" **SILENCE WELP, I AM THE GREAT KYUUBI NO YOKO, AND YOU WILL DO AS I SAY**!"

Deciding that the beast was likely going to only continue to rage, what with its clear superiority complex, Naruto figured the best, or at least most entertaining, thing to do would be to screw with it. And with that he replied with a simple "No" and promptly set down in a meditative pose.

After several hours of the beast continuing to threaten and bluster Naruto had managed to reign in the chakra that his body had been venting and deal with most of the damage. Frowning, he hoped he hadn't destroyed the eyes he had recovered. It was at that moment he noticed that the room was strangely quiet. Figuring the Kyuubi was finally ready to talk, or fight for dominance, Naruto stood up and walked onto the central dias.

Lowering and turning his head, the Kyuubi began to speak to Naruto, " **Ningen, I have seen your memories, your powers, and your fears. I know that** _ **my**_ **powers are bound to** _ **your**_ **flesh and not some piece of paper**."

Frowning, Naruto replied, "And why should that matter to me?"

At this the Kyuubi began to chuckle, " **Because you pathetic human, that means all I have to do is devour you and this body becomes mine!** " With his threat the Kyuubi turned his eye on Naruto and flashed his fangs.

Responding, Naruto channeled the Force through his body, creating a dark miasma around his body and causing his eyes to glow a bright yellow, "If you have truly seen my memories you know I am no human, _beast_!", spat Naruto in return.

" **Hah, at least you have** _ **some**_ **spark,** _ **ningen**_ **. But that will not be enough to save you. Now come, let us fight, and I shall give you a warrior's death!** "

"Very well, _beast_ , I shall enjoy claiming your mind once I am finished with you."

And with that the central chamber began to shift, the walls expanding, the dais lowering, and what seemed to be an arena forming. After a few minutes a wide space, two hundred meters square and at least that high, had been formed for the pair to do battle in.

Seeing this, the Kyuubi remarked, sporting a grin, " **Convenient**."

Naruto responded with a silent charge.

With a roar, the Kyuubi launched his tails at Naruto, trying to either crush or impale the young sith. Weaving past each strike, Naruto began to actually close on the great fox itself. Seeing his foe approaching, the Kyuubi reared back, preparing to crush Naruto with both hands. Naruto, planning to strike first, fired off several blasts of telekinetic energy. However, when the blows struck the beast's head and then promptly dissipated, he frowned. Unfortunately for him, that was the very moment the Kyuubi struck. Seeing the two massive hands coming for him, Naruto launched himself backwards with a Force enhanced leap and slipped into a ready stance.

Figuring that the creatures nature as a being of chakra granted it a rather significant resistance to direct Force attacks, Naruto decided the only thing to do would be to hit it with as many high powered chakra attacks as possible. Silently and seallessly he created twenty shadow clones who each formed the tori seal and called out **Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu**! At this twenty water dragons launched themselves at the great fox, placing the chakra entity on the defensive. Taking this opportunity to slip away, Naruto created another clone, swapped with it using **Kawarimi** , and promptly used a combination of **Force Cloak** and **Force Invisibility** to slip into a more advantageous position.

The water dragons strike and stagger the Kyuubi, but after a second the great fox pulses its chakra and counters with a massive blast of flames. Four clones are destroyed but the remaining seventeen charge the kyuubi, dodging between the tails once again. The Kyuubi, growing frustrated, launches himself back and begins charging chakra at the end of each of his tails. After a massive ball easily half the size of the biju itself is formed, the Kyuubi swallows the mass of chakra, and promptly swells up to ridiculous proportions before unleashing a massive beam of destruction straight at the original Naruto.

Eyes widening, Naruto launched himself to the side with a Force enhanced leap, reaching and sticking to the wall on the western side of the arena. " **Silly ningen, did you really think your tricks would protect you from me**?

Ignoring the taunts, and the well of anger building inside of him, Naruto created another twenty clones, his previous force being completely wiped out by the **Bijudama** , and dropped from the wall, ordering his clones to spread out.

" **So you've finally decided you're ready to die little boy! Well, it's about time.** "

Gritting his teeth, Naruto bit out, "Silence beast, I will break you!" Channelling as much of his anger as he could, Naruto began his attack. Weaving through dozens of blows, substituting with half of his clones, and barely reaching the beast without being impaled, Naruto revealed his trump card. With a single thought and a massive roar hundreds of chakra chains launched themselves from the ten remaining shadow clones, piercing and binding the great beast. And then began draining the foxes chakra into themselves.

With a roar that shook his mindscape, the Kyuubi began speaking, " **YOU DAMN NINGEN, HOW DO YOU HAVE THESE CHAINS!?** "

Now with a small, but noticeable, smirk on his face Naruto began to taunt his opponent, "You didn't really think I'd allow you to just look through my memories, did you? My Master can read minds just by being on the same planet as his target and he has taught me the value of secrets. My mind is my own, _beast_."

Roaring once again, the Kyuubi began to struggle, desperately trying to break free from the chains binding him. Naruto calmly walked up to the great fox, jumped onto his snout, and spoke a final few words to the great creature, "Hold still, this is probably going to hurt. **Drain Knowledge**!"

At this Naruto slammed his left hand _into_ the forehead of the Kyuubi, almost as if he was searching for something. And after a few moments he found what he was looking for and memories began to slip into his mind. At first it was his most recent fight, then it was memories of the his birth and the destruction of konoha, all from the Kyuubi's point of view. On and on it went, the beast's imprisonment within its jinchuuriki, the fox's life for the two thousand years before that, its siblings, but most importantly, its birth.

Naruto could not stop his eyes from widening, the beast had a name, Kurama, his "father" was the Rikudo Sennin, all of the tailed beasts were part of a construct known as the Juubi, and the Juubi was actually Otsutsuki Kaguya fused with a tree!? The young sith couldn't help it, he laughed. How could he not? Apparently the source of all the power of his world was an alien and a bloody tree. And the best thing was that Kurama even remembered bits and pieces of technology, now long lost, that would have been right at home in his Master's era!

Looking at the great fox, Naruto realized its eyes had become completely blank. Perfect white orbs staring out into his mindscape while small tendrils of the chakra making up the Kyuubi's body continuously drifted into the now reformed central dias. Focusing, Naruto jumped onto the dias and took a meditative stance. Ready to sort through so many memories, and sporting a highly unusual grin, "The benefits of managing several thousand shadow clones...", were the last words to echo in his mind.

 **48 BBY Month 3**

With a groan Naruto woke up. His whole body seemed to be cramping up and everything was sore. Running a bit of Force energy through his body, he slowly stretched out on his bed. After taking a few minutes to make sure everything was in order, he sat up, and with a questioning tone he spoke aloud for the first time, "ARMR?"

"Ah, young master, it is a pleasure to see you awake. I shall inform the master that you will soon be ready to meet with him."

"Thank you ARMR, but could you please explain what happened to me?"

"Of course young master. After returning from your mission you collapsed within the armory. After a few moments you began to violently release large quantities of chakra, damaging your armor and weapons I'm afraid, and then fell unconscious."

"Understood, was my equipment salvageable?"

"I am quite sorry young master, but the only salvageable weapons were your throwing knives. Though the severed head and arm you had with you were both secured and escaped without significant damage or decay."

"Were there any changes in the status of the eyes in particular?"

"Yes sir. The eyes that had previously been blind have now taken a black and red design; with seven of the eyes possessing a unique pattern. This occurred during the time you were releasing a great deal of chakra. Would you like to review the security footage?

"No, not right now. However, I do wish for you to begin coding the genetic structure of each eye, the head, and the arm. Each one should have a different genetic structure, though it is possible, if not highly likely, that the eyes are paired. Once I have time I will investigate it myself. But for now where is my Master?"

With that the door to the medical bay opened and Revan strode in. Moving quickly, Naruto leapt out of bed and dropped to a knee before his master. "My Master", the body uttered, showing that even after a two month coma he was still quite capable of movement.

"Apprentice, I take it your mission was successful?"

"Yes, my Master."

"Good. We're running out of time and as such, I have decided you are ready for Surik's holocron. Survive her test and you'll be one step closer to finishing your training. Now come, we have little time."

With that, Revan turned back into hallway. Naruto quickly stood and followed his master and the pair walked in silence for several minutes. Coming to one of the training rooms, unused up to this point, and Naruto could feel...something within. It felt like a...wound...in the Force, almost as if it was a place the Force could no longer go. Yet that was not quite it...it was as if the Force _refused_ to enter the room. For the first time since he had been reborn, Naruto felt...unease.

"Master, what is in that room?"

"That, my apprentice, is a Force echo. Survive it and you shall gain powers even I cannot hope to match. But I warn you, it shall not be a pleasant experience,"

"I understand, my Master." And with his final words said, Naruto opened the door and stepped into the room. The entirety of the area was pitch black. So dark that the light from the corridor barely moved a few inches into the gloom. It was with his first few steps that Naruto realized he could no longer sense things beyond his own and body. At that very moment the door shut and locked in the darkness, Naruto shivered. This was the first time in a very long time he had felt fear. Yet the emotion itself was strange, as if coming from a great distance, not from within his own mind.

Creating a small ball of fire natured chakra in his hand, he walked forward. The darkness itself was clearly unnatural, likely a thing of the dark side. Thinking to himself, Naruto decided it was trying to isolate the echo, preventing others from approaching the source. Moving forward the feelings of unease increased and he began to both hear movement and see flashes of shadows that almost seemed alive, but always on the edge of his vision. In response, he flared his youki, driving back the darkness and granting him a reprieve from the spirits that haunted this darkness.

After an unknowable amount of time walking, Naruto heard chanting, building slowly as he continued forward, but certainly growing. Once he could make out the individual words Naruto realized he had never heard this language in all of his training. And his master had imparted knowledge of languages a humanoid physically could not speak. As he came to what seemed to be a ritual chamber he received his first look at the beings chanting.

Fifteen tall and luminous creatures, lacking all features, stood arrayed in a line. From his left they went from black to red to grey to blue to white and all of the beings seemed to be chanting the unknown language straight into his head. Each seemed to be three time his height, identical to all the others, save for its color, and they all radiated enough Force energy to nearly burn Naruto's mind from his body. As he stopped walking he felt one of the creatures, the one from the very center he believed, begin speaking to him.

" **END THIS PATH CREATURE. FOR SHOULD YOU WALK THIS PATH ALL SHALL BE UNDONE!"** With the beings words it seemed as if the very world itself shook, with Naruto falling to one knee.

"Why? Why should I not walk this path?", the young sith cried out.

" **YOU WALK THE PATH OF THE GODS. AND YOU DO NOT HAVE OUR BLESSING!"**

Naruto, feeling his mind begin to slip, stood up, "I am no creature and I fear no gods!"

" **THEN WE SHALL DESTROY YOU AND PRESERVE THE BALANCE!"** With that the being fused together, forming a massive serpent, easily many kilometers long, and with a maw of fangs ten times the length of Naruto's body.

Seeing the creature bearing down upon him, Naruto unleashed a bestial roar and called up all of the youki and chakra within his body. As the creature came closer, a blood red cloak of chakra sprang up around him, with what looked like the body of a massive fox quickly forming over his cloak. Moments before the serpent struck, a truly awe inspiring sight of a kilometer tall blood red fox with nine tails, massive spikes coming from the joints of its forelimbs, and glowing yellow eyes stood in defiance of the creature. At this the serpent hesitated and in that moment changes continued to take place. Its claws, spikes, and teeth blackening, the eyes beginning to glow a darker red, and spike forming on the fox's shoulders, down its spine, and its rib cage solidifying.

Seeing the creature before them, the spirits forming the serpent had only a single thought, ' **The creature is born of our old rivals. Rivals we had surely slain to the last…'** Driving out the thoughts of the only beings to have ever truly challenged them, the spirits pushed their shared form forward, fully intent on devouring the great fox before them.

At this Naruto launched himself backwards, launching a wave of fire from his mouth. The serpent split itself apart into fifteen separate beings, each taking on the form of a winged insect with strange golden bone plates on their heads and launched themselves at the great fox.

Launching himself into the air, Naruto formed the ram hand seal and created four shadow clones of his fox form. As the clones fell they grabbed the original and threw him away from the main fight. However the spirits were idle during this time. The group of insects converged on one of the clones, burrowing into the fox's arm, before combining once again and shifting into a monstrous lizard this time.

The remaining shadow clones immediately began going through a series of hand seals: with the first two being **Tori-I-Tatsu** with the first clone ending with **Inu** , the second with another **Tori** , and the third with a **Saru**. Finished, the clones each spit a massive elemental dragon at the spirits, and with a roar shout, " **Dragon's Dance: Three Elements!** ". As the dragons rocket forward the first, made of wind, clashes with the second, made with fire, and the resulting jutsu is so large the third, made of lightning, is quickly absorbed. The resulting technique is a white-blue elemental dragon easily a kilometer long and on a direct course for the spirit's current location.

Unsure of the range of the technique, the spirits opt to counter with a blast of pure Force energy. In a matter of seconds the lizard rears up on its hind legs, shifts its forelegs into arms and began to concentrate a mass of Force energy into its hands. Within a moment a massive black spear had formed in the creature's hands, and with a cry of " **DARKSHEAR"** the attack was launched forward.

As the two attacks came together the combatants were already preparing their defenses. The three clones expended their remaining chakra, forming a dome of earth around the original. Trusting in the sheer power they could bring to bear, the spirits formed a dome of telekinetically reinforced air around themselves. And only a moment after the enemies had finished preparing, the blows met.

And it was pure destruction. A wave of energy, a bright blinding white, expanded from the meeting point, consuming everything in its path. The chamber the enemies seemed to be in shook and almost collapsed, unleashing their attack on the real world. Seeing what was happening, the spirits grabbed onto the very fabric of their unreality and held fast. After what seemed to be a day or more, everything calmed. It was with the calm that the spirits realized something: they had completely forgotten about the original.

There it stood, a massive ball of chakra, easily five times it on size, hovering above its maw. And with what looked like a grin, the fox swallowed the energy, bloating to comic proportions. Its arms and legs were like twigs coming of its obscenely swollen body, yet it somehow seemed to be perfectly fine. As the spirits were so shocked they failed to take advantage of this opportunity and paid for it most dearly.

A wave of red energy spewed forth from the maw of the great fox and crashed into the spirits. Under the force of so much energy, so inherently antithetical to the Force, the spirits began to wither. One by one the faded, until only two remained and the **bijuudama** faded. At that moment one more slipped away, so it was only a single spirit that bore witness to the being who had crushed them so thoroughly. And that spirit saw the young sith simply continue on his way, ignoring the fact that their battle would have leveled half a continent had it occurred in the real world.

Looking around, Naruto realized he was about five meters away from the entrance of the training room and that the shadows were now gone. Searching the room the only thing he noticed was the holocron sitting on a pedestal in the center of the room. Ultimately deciding to attribute his battle to the Force screwing with him, his master mentioned it would do that occasionally, he walked up to and activated the holocron. As a grey image flickered into being, Naruto made sure to memorize every detail.

The woman was shortish, a hundred and seventy centimeters at most, with shoulder length brown hair, a plain face, and smiling brown eyes. Frankly, she looked incredibly...average. But even as a fragment of a spirit embedded into a holocron Naruto could feel her power. No where near his level, or the level of his master, but great nonetheless. As an organic she would likely be a close second to his master's power. Eventually, the hologram raised an eyebrow at his staring and began to speak.

"Well young sith, do you find me that pleasing to look at? If so, I must admit myself flattered. I had few admirers in life and even fewer in death."

Dropping to his knee, so as not to offend his new teacher, Naruto responded, "I apologize my lady, I meant no offense."

Laughing, the hologram responded, "Oh I take no offense, especially not from my greatest success. As I feel my work within you young one."

"Yes, my lady. I was gravely injured as a child and it was your machines that healed me. And gave me the form I take now."

"Well then, would you like to learn how to create more?"

"My lady, what do you mean?"

"Why, since you praised my droids so, I thought your first lesson might be on **Mechu-Deru**. Though you shall have to pass my trial first. I warn you, my test is most unpleasant."

"I shall endure it my lady."

"Good. I believe you shall. Now rise and prepare yourself young sith."

At Naruto stood and readied himself for what would come. With every second that passed he could feel the Force growing more and more distant. Slipping away from him. Frowning, he felt a pain in his body grow. It felt as if something was tugging at every centimeter of his skin at once and the feeling was growing far more unpleasant rather quickly.

It was at the end of several minutes of growing discomfort that he felt a searing pain explode within his brain. It felt as if all of his senses were being forcefully shut down and yet the pain brought clarity. As the the pain grew, so did his understanding. He was experiencing existence without the Force clouding his perceptions. And he understood that was what it did, for the Force had a will, even if it was not actively directed against you. It was in the throes of that mix of pain and enlightenment that he finally _understood_ the nature of the Force.

At the end of what seemed to be hours of ever growing pain it all finally stopped. And in that blessed stillness Naruto finally fell unconscious. With the silent presence of a dead dark lord of the sith as his only guardian, he slept, and he prepared.

 **AN Hoped you guys enjoyed all of that and thanks for reading. I promise all the powers except Dragon's Dance were canon and all the characters (even the force beings) were too. I'll give a shoutout to whoever can tell me what the aliens were!**

 **Now, I wondering if you guys think he should get the sharingan or not? He's gonna get freaky(er) eyes and several other upgrades later, but I kind of want him to have these now (as they are O to the freaking P). Anyways, see you guys next month (hopefully)!**


	3. A Short Trip to the West

**A.N. Hey guys, sorry for taking so long with this update. Life has hit me like a bag of bricks recently. The short is: accident at work putting me in the hospital, antibiotic resistant sinus infection and the normal flu, dad in jail, having to get a new job, and my computer died. Anyways, I'm going to try to keep this on a semi regular update schedule, but I have no idea what I'm doing with my life right now, so just keep an eye on the story and I'll drop it when I can. As a personal favor, please leave detailed criticisms and suggestions of how I can improve my story. Thank you for your patience, please enjoy the story.**

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

" **Demon speech and techniques** "

Disclaimer: I own neither Starwars nor Naruto.

 **48 BBY Month 11**

Naruto stood silently, his three meter frame bearing the weight of a huge mass of metal. Gently he lowered the long bars into what looked to be a wide trough, filled with brightly glowing coals. Pushing The Force into the metal sitting before him, he began to chant in a guttural and harsh language. At that moment the coals began to glow brighter, flames began to spark up between them, and the metal began to glow. As the chanting rose higher and higher the metal began to melt and deform, but just before the steel would be unrecoverable, Naruto directed his mind to the glowing mass. Using nothing but his power to direct the now liquid metal, fully encased by blinding white flames that even then blackened and damaged the crucible holding them, it began to slowly spin.

It was at that moment a shadow clone, carrying a second bar of metal, entered into the forest clearing where Naruto had made his crude forge. Stopping for a moment to both observe and to divine the correct moment to introduce his payload, the clone noted the fire hardened clay making up the outside of the crucible was cracking from the heat and it was likely the metal lining was warping and deforming as well. The grass in the twenty meter clearing was dying, both from the flames, even now starting small fires, and the dark power being channeled into the metal. Hearing the sound that would signal him to introduce the chakra steel to the mix, the clone stepped forward and allowed the metal to drop into the center of the dancing liquid steel.

The second the two materials touched they almost seemed to explode, the crucible visibly cracking, and a definite fire starting in the clearing. As the flames around them spread, the steel before Naruto and his shadow clone grew brighter still. Within, the two metals mixed, impurities were visibly burnt out, and the steel itself blackened and twisted. A form appearing that was guided both by the chant and the dark powers infused in its forging. Sensing the chakra steel weakening, Naruto signalled his clone to begin channeling chakra into the mix. At this the competing powers seemed to attack each other, battling for dominance over the forming sword.

In that moment a second shadow clone appeared and ran a claw over the skin of the original, drawing blood. Turning and channeling chakra into a small square of paper, a small barrel appeared. Cracking the lid open, the clone turned and placed it below the bleeding wound. At the very moment the fresh blood touched the older blood held within the barrel the fire around them rushed forwards, seemingly merging with the flames holding the metal. In the very next second the blood rushed forward from the barrel, and the hiss of the fluid touching the metal was clearly heard over the still chanting original. And as they chanted, the flames spread, stretching outwards, onwards, constantly seeking new fuel, turning the forest around the ritual into a burning hellscape.

After what seemed to be many hours the two shadow clones popped, having channeled all their chakra into the blade, and the flames shuddered. A high pitched wail sounded and the roaring inferno that now filled the once peaceful clearing began to fall inwards, drawing with it all the dark powers that had been called forth, merging them with the once-mortal-steel. And it was in this way that darkness fell over the scorched hellscape, earth blackened, nothing standing, and everything for twenty kilometers around burnt into ash.

Where the heart of the inferno once raged a single massive sword stood. The tang easily seventy centimeters long, the blade itself three hundred centimeters exactly. A single piece of black...metal, for it was no longer mortal steel, but something more. The youki and massive amounts of dark side force energy used in its construction had made it something else, something more, than any mortal weapon could ever hope to be. Looking upon its tang, Naruto knew it wasn't quite complete, so reaching up to his own torso, he cut himself open.

Revealing the bone plating the protected his organs, the young sith reached within himself and separated a hands width of his bone from the rest of his body. Focussing his youki within himself upon the wound, he watched with dispassionate eyes as his bone rapidly regrew and his flesh knit itself closed. Turning back to the weapon, he levitated the bone to the sword's tang. He pushed his energies into his bone and the handle of the weapon, guiding them together, binding the two into one. Gently, the bone merged with the handle, taking on the shape of the tang, and the blood within the bone flew into the metal, resonating with what had already impregnated the blade.

With a flash of light, runes carved themselves into the blade of the sword, two lines trailing from guardless hilt to the broad point of the far edge. The runes dividing the weapon into perfect thirds and with a second flash the metal into which the runes were carved took on the white color of the bone hilt. Looking over the words carved into the weapon, Naruto felt them resonate with something within him, almost as if the blade was an expression of a fundamental part of himself. Looking upon it, he engraved every detail of the sword upon his mind. The three hundred and seventy centimeter weapon, the pitch black of the blade, the bone white of the hilt and runes carved within it.

He looked upon the weapon and carved it upon his own soul, impressing the weapon upon himself, even as he reached out to the sword, the sword reaching out to him in turn, and bound it within himself. Naruto formed the most intimate tie with the weapon he could, truly making the sword an extension of himself. Once again looking upon the blade, impaled within the ground, longer than he was tall, and he reached up and grabbed the hilt. The sword felt as light as air and with a flick of his wrist of unleashed a wave of blinding white flames into the sky, cracking the air as they flew upwards.

Feeling the tendrils of the swords own power reach outwards he pushed the force into the sword and felt his eyes widen as the blade drew the life energy and chakra from the very air around him. Everything, down to the smallest bacterium and virus, around him was dead, instantly drained of energy. Focussing, he felt the flow of energy, unfocused and weak, but more than strong enough to devour what was around him, move first through the blade and then into him. In that moment he felt an...itch within his mind, turning his attention upon that his sword dispersed into a black mist and it was with widened eyes that he _felt_ his weapon somehow resting within him. Directing his will once again, the blade formed within his hands, dark energy still radiating from it.

Smiling, he directed his chakra, now almost entirely youki, through the weapon and he felt the weapon grow stronger, and with the weapons growth, so too did his own strength grow. It was slight, insignificant even compared to his normal, physical growth, much less what he gained through his training, but he knew that as his weapon grew, so too did he. And most importantly, as he grew, so too did his weapon.

And it was in that moment that he raised the weapon before him and looked upon his own reflection. His body naked, his clothes destroyed by the flames, heavily scarred to the point where a human would be utterly repulsed, most prominent were the ugly burns and tears from the few times he had been hit by a blaster bolt and from where the great bear crushed him and his bones split his own skin open, his red skin and black spikes, blazing crimson eyes, and black dreadlocks contrasting and blowing in the slight breeze that disturbed the gaping wound that was once a forest. Naruto knew he looked like a monster and he was happy to become one, for though he lacked a family, a purpose, he now had a companion. In that moment two runes carved themselves into the middle of his sword and he could not stop the deep, wild, _mad_ , laugh that escaped him. He knew his companion's name, whispering with great reverence, he spoke, "Gentle Touch".

 **Several Hours Later**

Moving through the burnt hellscape that was once a vibrant forest, Naruto found himself quite alone. However, right on the edge of his senses he could feel at least two distinct groups, both with a general sense of wariness around them. Deciding that these people would likely be warriors, and therefore worth testing himself against, he set off in their direction. After a few minutes of running at his top speed, many times faster than an unassisted human could move, he was able to detect more distinct patterns amongst the two groups. The first, and slightly larger, of the groups had an air of desperation and hunger; the second, a sense of fear and weariness.

Upon reaching the edge of the destruction, the general direction of his prey quickly transitioned into rather sparse forest and an unpaved, if well trodden, path. Taking to the path, the tree limbs too weak to support his growing weight, he gained more distinct impressions and narrowed down the locations of his quarry. Only two hundred meters in, Naruto came to a river, beyond which stood a series of caverns. On the near side of the river about eighty men, bandits by their look, stood in a rough semicircle around a path between two rocks, wide enough for about ten men to pass through. Five of them, including the largest, wore relatively complete, if simple, armor. Dou, kote, suneate, and kabuto; all in all, rather well armored, and going by the well cared for katana in their hands, well armed for simple bandits. Ten of the bandits carried crude, but effective bows, though interestingly enough lacked arrows, and were at that moment moving towards the back of the largest group of men. The other sixty five bandits wore mostly padded or tatami armor with very, very basic dous. Though they were rather heavily armed, with each man carrying a yari and tanto, most of them clubs, and a few with what could have been wakizashi.

Obviously these men were bandits and ronin. Admittedly, they were better organized and equipped than most, but still only bandits. And seeing that the second group consisted of what looked like seven or so guards, wearing matching, if somewhat simple, leather armor reinforced with small metal plates, and carrying omi yari and tantos, meant that they were most likely a caravan that had been targeted. Reaching out with The Force, Naruto felt the group of sixty or so civilians, seemingly a solid mix of young and old, male and female, leading him to suspect these were likely people who had fled the forest fire he had caused. He could also feel pain coming from them, at least some of them were wounded. But most importantly, none of them were even worth the energy it would take to kill. In fact, the strongest fighters here were the five ronin and even they would probably only take a single hit to kill...however, he did need to test his sword, and he hadn't been able to let loose since he had been keeping a low profile while gathering the materials for his sword.

With that thought a grin split his face, rendering his already intimidating face into a terrifying visage, the black pointed teeth only enhancing the dark look. Deciding that he was going to have a bit of fun, he slowly relaxed his tight hold over his own dark aura. To the bandits, it suddenly felt as if it had dropped ten degrees, the sky had grown darker, and what seemed to be a dark mist began to spill out of the forest behind them. Focusing his power, Naruto called upon his pyrokinesis to create a small line of fire across the bank of the river separating the bandits from their prey. And then he began to walk towards the group.

Keiichi was a proud man. He was the first born to a minor feudal lord, but his father had been a fool. The old lord had been more concerned with parties and chasing skirts then he had been on managing his lands and vassals. By the time he had become thirteen, Keiichi had realized that he hated his father, but the last straw had been when his mother had taken her own life in shame for what his father regularly did. He murdered his father and took control of the lands, yet he was too late. His family was so deep in debt that even selling everything he owned wouldn't have covered a tenth of what his father owed. Knowing this he did the only thing he could do; he swore vassalage to another lord. That was when everything turned even worse.

In the dead of the night of his first night of guard duty, as he was obligated to offer two months of personal service to his new lord, his master was killed by a shinobi. Humiliated once again, he was given two choices; seppuku or he would be stripped of his position. At that point he simply snapped. He killed the retainers that confronted him, likely the men who had hired the assassin in the first place, gathered the men loyal to him and he left, taking as much as he could. Ironically, the first time he gained recognition from anyone had been when he turned his considerable sword skills on those who were supposed to be his friends. But that was years ago.

Now, he and his men had turned bandit; preying on civilians and merchants that moved through the border forests of Hi no Kuni and Kaze no Kuni. It had been a good life, he never killed anyone important enough to get ninjas sent after him, and he never sacked any villages, but he had more than enough food. Really, he had everything he ever wanted: recognition, comrades, territory, hell he even had a girl he was sweet on. But that damn fire had ended all of that. His fort was burned down, more than two thirds of his men dead, most of his supplies gone. And now he had been forced to attack a random merchant he had no knowledge of and siege the fat bastard out.

And now some asshole ninja was fucking with his men. Letting out a cry of frustration, he began shouting, "Kidomaru, get your fat ass back into line! Junichi, have your squad form ranks, you dumb shit! This is just a fucking ninja screwing with us! It's probably some chunin level nukenin that couldn't handle a real fight and ran away! Why do you think he's fucking with us!" With his orders, two of his lieutenants moved their squads of men around, ready to confront this ninja.

And a deep chuckle began to echo through the forest. Turning to face the direction of the sound, Keiichi readied his sword and his men, "Junichi, take your men forward, root the bastard out and surround him. If he's playing games the son of a bitch is probably using genjutsu, so don't freak out and pulse your chakra if you have to!" Following their leader's orders eleven men moved forward, more than ready to get rid of the damn ninja stopping from getting their hands on the merchant. Moving in a line, the group approached the treeline, carefully spaced, watching their comrades, and thoroughly searching for their enemy. At that point, a pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared from the darkness of the trees. The chuckle came back, louder than before. And then the eyes began to glow crimson. In that moment Keiichi felt like something had gone very, very wrong. Then, the slaughter began.

The eleven men making up the first row lit up as flames consumed their bodies from within. In a matter of seconds the scent of burning flesh, the sound of bones cracking from the heat, and an otherwise terrible silence fell over the clearing. Not a single one of the victims had time to cry out as they were consumed by the terrible flames. As the bodies fell they turned to ash, being carried off by a fall breeze. In that moment Keiichi heard nothing but his own heartbeat, saw nothing but those eyes looking at him over the burning bodies of his men, and smelled a sick mixture of pine needles and cooked meat.

A scream split the silence, a lone man from the second squad, one of Junichi's men, charged at the eyes, constantly screaming for the ninja to die. He exploded. The bandit's body seemingly ripped itself apart, the viscera being violently launched backwards. Keiichi spiked his chakra. Nothing changed. The smear of one of his men, the burn marks from the deaths of an entire squad of his men, and that damned smell still remained. Only now the tang of blood entered the air.

"It's just a fucking genjutsu, gut the bastard you sons 'a bitches!", with his cry, Keiichi watched his men crumble. Thinking the fighters under him might rally had been a mistake, a mistake that cost exactly twenty men, two squads, their lives as they tried to flee. At the very second their bodies reached the river bank walls of white flames lept into the sky. The displaced air forced the ashes of the now disintegrated bodies back into the clearing. Keiichi spiked his chakra. Nothing changed. The walls of white flames reached up into the sky, three times taller than any of his men, the smell of blood and piss filled the clearing, a slight undercurrent of cooked meat along with a twisted feeling of hunger lanced through him, his throat was too dry to speak, but he could still taste the ashes of his dead men on his tongue, and he could hear that damned chuckling. "It's just an illusion. It has to be. Charge...attack...do something…" Keiichi issued his command, but it only escaped as the barest murmur.

In that moment Keiichi could only watch as the monster that had so easily butchered his men stalked forward. A surge of black mist heralded its coming, the feeling of terror, of being truly insignificant, of being a _toy_ intensified. And then _the thing_ stepped out of the shadows. Easily three meters tall, broader than two men, with large and very visible muscled. Of course, the first thing he noticed was the red skin, then the fact that this thing had what looked like black bone spikes coming out of his arms. When _it_ grinned, Keiichi knew that whatever the hell this monster was, it was most certainly not human. It had _black fucking teeth_ and the god dammed teeth looked as long as his _fingers_. Pulsing his chakra widely, Keiichi didn't even notice when the monster pulled a sword bigger than itself out of thin air.

He did notice when a wall of white flames consumed the rest of his men. Babbling incoherently, Keiichi dropped onto his backside, muttering "it's a genjutsu" over and over and over again. Spiking his chakra did nothing to change this hellscape he was in: the disintegrated corpses of his men drifting on a breeze created by the flames, the constant smell of charred flesh, and that _god dammed chuckle_. Noticing a shadow cover him, Keiichi looked up, and the last thing he saw was the sharp end of a very, very large blade.

Looking down at the now dead bandit leader, Naruto felt a strong sense of disappointment. He had only used his new sword's powers once. Though wielding the blade did seem to enhance any force conjured flames he used, interestingly enough. Drawing his blade from the ground with a wet thunk, Naruto willed the flames to disperse. Confirming that none of his targets escaped, the young sith let a small smile grace his features. He always enjoyed a job well done. Deciding to see to the civilians, he turned his attention to the men who had been fighting the bandits.

And immediately had to stifle a laugh. The seven men all wore expressions that somehow communicated fear, awe, disgust, and a great deal of surprise. Idly reading their surface thoughts, the men were so distracted Naruto imagined he could dance through their minds and they would not notice, it seemed the fear and awe were directed at him, the disgust at the lingering scent of burning flesh, and the surprise at the fact that they were still alive at the moment.

Interpreting Naruto's starring as a potential threat, the leader of the guards dropped into a seiza and was quickly followed by his men. "We th-thank you m-mighty oni, for sav-saving us. If it would pl-please you, we have sake we might of-offer in gra-grat-gratitude." All in all, Naruto was rather impressed by how little the man had stuttered. What with the fact that Naruto had just butchered eighty or so men die in various horrible ways. Deciding that he would take them up one their offer, he voiced his one addition.

"And a pair of pants."

"My l-lord?"

"I require a pair of pants as well."

"Um, my lord, I...I'm not sure we have any in your size…"

"No matter, we will settle this later."

With his piece said, Naruto strode over to the now standing, if rather nervous, guards. Stretching out his senses, he swept the area, looking for any possible threats, either from another bandit group or a possible attack from the merchants. While he felt no threat, he did feel several guards. Deciding to address this issue, he spoke up, "You have wounded. Take me to them and I will heal them."

The guards shared a nervous look, but it seemed their desire to see their comrades whole and healthy won out. "Of course sir, right this way."

As the head of the guards led Naruto, with an escort of four rather nervous spearmen, to the wounded, he engaged the young sith in an attempt at conversation, "My lord, um, I hope you don't mind me asking, but, um, why did you save us?"

"I did not in fact save you, my intention was to engage the bandits. Your survival was a consequence to my actions, not their motivator. However, that does mean I intend to inflict further injury upon you."

"Well my lord, I can't say I'm exactly happy about your motivations, but I'm sure as hell not going to complain about your results."

After a short walk, the group came upon eight wounded men, arranged so the least wounded were closest to the entrance. The three closest had knives and spears close by them, evidence that these men likely intended to fight should the bandits make it as far as the wounded. All eight of the men bore evidence of attempted medical assistance, but no civilians were nearby, and while not immediately an issue, it did pique Naruto's interest enough for him to question it, "Guardsman, where are your medics?"

"Well my lord, they were all civilians, and seeing as you are rather, um, no offense intended my lord, but you're rather scary looking. We wanted to avoid causing a scene or offending you."

Nodding, Naruto responded, "Thank you guardsman. I will work better without interference. Direct me to the most wounded of your men first." At his directions the leader took him to a heavily bandaged man. Kneeling down, Naruto began his examination: three wounds that looked to be from a spear, likely sustained during the initial bandit attack, serious contusions along his palms, already turning a rather nasty purple, what looked to be a concussion, and a few assorted scrapes and cuts. "I see three serious stab wounds, serious bruising along his hands, and a concussion. Step back, I will need space for what I am about to do."

At his words the guards stepped back, making sure the injured were cleared as well. Kneeling, Naruto reached within himself, finding the very core of his Force abilities, and opened a path for it. As the power flew through him, red sparks began to form in the air around him, After a few second of focusing, his eyes snapped open, and with them he _perceived_. Looking about the small cave he was in, his eyes perceived every flaw in the stonework, every flaw in every piece of weaponry or armor, and on each man, wounded or not, webs of lines danced across their skin. But he did not _see_ these things. No, his eyes were vacant, glassy. But with great, great care, he reached out a single claw and began to trace a few of the lines on the wounded man. As he traced those lines he channeled The Force into each of the flaws. And as the force danced within the injuries, the flesh healed itself. Broken bones set themselves, organs reformed, muscles bound themselves into a whole, and skin knit itself together again. Perhaps fifteen seconds after he began the healing, the first man was hale and hearty once again. Opening his mouth, he uttered only one word, " **Next** ", and complying with the warrior turned healer, each of the wounded were brought before him in turn. After a half hour of healing every single injury, old and new, solving every issue with each man, and honoring his word, Naruto found himself without a patient. Shutting his eyes, he turned inwards once again, stopping up the flow of power. Without shifting, Naruto let a small smirk cross his lips, "Guardsman, I think I'll have that sake now."

 **Five Days Later**

Sipping from the rather large bottle of sake that Eiji, the head of the caravan and apparently a rather successful silk merchant, had given him, Naruto pondered the most recent events in his rather short, if intense, life. First, Masahiro, the captain of the guards, had promptly asked him if he was, in fact, a kami which had taken mortal form. After getting over his surprise, Naruto promptly disabused Masahiro of his mistaken, if somewhat understandable, beliefs. Apparently, none of the guards believed him. Within an hour, each and every member of the caravan had come to thank him personally, each offering small gifts of food, rice wine, or small trinkets. Completely surprised by their actions and with absolutely no idea how to react, he simply thanked each person and healed any small injuries they had. Thankfully, he had no need to enter a trance once again, but this had seemingly solidified his position as a protective spirit in the eyes of the peasants.

While he was somewhat loathe to admit it, he had been rather touched at how much the people seemed to think about him. To show that he appreciated their gifts, Naruto had tied several of the small trinkets into his hair. And while he would never admit such a thing, his favorite gift had come from Suzume, the fourteen year old daughter of Eiji. It seemed that her older brother had been the first man Naruto had healed and she gifted him a pair of engraved silver bells that had been her mother's. After inspecting them, Naruto had found a small sealing array that allowed the bells to cast a weak auditory genjutsu causing disorientation and a sense of vertigo when chakra was channeled into them. He had bashfully, or as bashfully as a seemingly emotionless three meter tall sith warrior can be, tied them into a small forelock of hair that now hung down the right side of his face.

Though it had been later in the evening on the fourth night, when the group had settled down for the evening, that the most impressive gift had been given to him. As the caravan had lacked a pair of pants in his size, he had been given a large tarp to wear around his waist. It seemed the women of the group decided he could use an actual piece of clothing. They had sewn together a yukata from several blankets they had taken apart. While it was simple, blue with an obi that was literally a length of rope, Naruto had been touched. The only other clothing he had ever owned had been what the Hokage had forced the stores in Konoha to sell to him or what his master had authorized him to wear on a mission. Though, he had, possibly, gone a bit too far.

That morning, as thanks, he had gone through and activated the chakra coils of each and every member of the group. Though it took a bit more than two hours the entirety of the group were now able to mold their chakra, even if none of them had shinobi training. After a short amount of internal deliberation he had decided that since he activated their chakra, he had a responsibility to help them learn to use it. Of course the adults would likely never have very large reserves, two to three times that of a fresh civilian at the absolute most, those that were children and even teenagers would be able to build up reserves of their own. When the guards refused to refer to him as anything other than "Kami-sama" or "my lord" afterwards, he had finally told the group his real name.

Under normal circumstances, Naruto would have never revealed his name to anyone. But for the first time since his exposure to the force echo, he had been given a "feeling". He had been urged to answer honestly when a young child had come up to him, no older than six, and asked him, rather softly, what his name was. Deciding this was significant enough to justify breaking his normal protocols, he spoke his name to them, "Uzumaki Naruto". Interestingly enough, this convinced the old women who still remembered the Uzumaki clan to take the yukata back and incorporate a large, white Uzumaki swirl on the back.

Ultimately, the strangest thing that had happened was the fact that a few of the women in the group, mostly those whom he was teaching, seemed to have developed something of an infatuation with him. In a rather strange turn, his eyes and facial tendrils had become "exotic", rather than terrifying or hideous, and the fact that he carried such heavy scars simply proved "that he was a great and mighty warrior". It was a rather strange situation for the young sith to be in; he was likely the greatest killer alive on this planet, Naruto had no doubt that he would likely be an S rank by ninja standards and the fact that he was still growing meant he was rather far from his peak, and he was hesitant to spend time around females only slightly older than himself. However, he was _not_ afraid, he just somewhat uneasy. Naruto blamed it on the fact he had likely begun the first stages of puberty. Though that thought brought a grimace to his face; sith undergo a rather rapid puberty within three and a half years or so. What made it unpleasant was that their natural aggressiveness and more violent tendencies were greatly enhanced by the hormones.

Ultimately, he decided to chalk the situation up to the fact that they still thought he was a god and simply ignore it.

 **Two Weeks Later**

Naruto was content. Over the last three weeks he had found and promptly butchered six groups of bandits, taught his students basic chakra control exercises, and had grown a bit overfond of rice wine. Thankfully, his sith biology and youki prevented him from actually growing drunk. As it was highly likely that with those advantages he would have both drank all the alcohol in the caravan, he was rather thankful to the bandits as they tended to hoard the stuff, and reduced his liver into a blackened mess in the process. Amusingly, it seemed Eiji was something of a connoisseur himself and after finding out about his protectors love of the drink, and immunity to its side effects, had taken it upon himself to teach Naruto how to identify the different types of sake by smell, sight, and the smallest of sips. The culture surrounding the drinks, especially nihonshu, was actually a rather pleasant thing to learn about.

Honestly, he was enjoying helping these people. It was also rather effective training for when he would need to lead men of his own. Early on, the leaders of the group, Eiji, Masahiro, and a village elder named Satoru, had been hesitant to ask him for aid. After he realized that the group was running a bit low on food and he approached the group to offer his aid, it was decided to include him in their councils. His response, as it was to most things, was to simply find a group of outlaws and take their food. While it may have been a bit much once he started sending out shadow clones to ensure the way forward was clear of debris and to find any possible bandits, and the gods know how useful they were for resupplies, Naruto felt he was only doing his part. The villagers still insisted on treating him like a kami, so he would act like one.

Of course, it all had to end sooner or later. Right now, they were less than two days travel from the fire capitol and on roads with regular patrols. Even now it was somewhat dangerous for him to be out without a henge on, something he was loathe to do. Objectively, the young sith knew that transforming was safer for everyone, but he was proud, and he had hidden for the first six years of his life while living in the shadows for the last four. It was good being able to simply be, even if it was only for a short time. Of course, not everything was...perfect. It seemed that Suzume herself had something of a crush on him. He had done nothing to encourage her and treated her like the rest of his students, but she seemingly did not get the message. However, he was hesitant to be firmer as she had done nothing inappropriate and he frankly had _no idea whatsoever_ on how to deal with a teenage girl. His studies into psychology were mostly related to direct applications in combat and torturing the girl was a bit extreme for the situation.

It was at that moment that his best student had begun walking up the sheer cliff face he was currently standing on while thinking about that very girl. She was roughly one hundred and fifty four centimeters tall, with shoulder length black hair, and with warm, grey eyes that held a hint of the warrior she could be. Dressed in an unrestricting calf length skirt and a well made western shirt, both of a dark green color, her feet were clad in sandals that wrapped up and across the ankles, while a brown coat laid open over her medium sized chest. All together, she cut a rather pleasant figure, even to the sith warrior, with the noticeably sharp features of a noble she had inherited from her mother, according to Eiji at least.

"Suzume, not that I am displeased that you found me so quickly, but it is just after midnight. You do have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."

Sighing that she had once again failed to so much as make her sensei guess at who she was, Suzume replied, "Sensei, I've asked you a half dozen times and I'm pretty sure the others have asked just as many times, but how do you _always_ know who approaches you?"

Idly contemplating on whether or not he should give a half answer, she did respond to his question with another. Ultimately, Naruto figured he should be honest, he was going to be gone soon, "Many different ways. The simplest is your scent, you have a faint hint of sake and mulberry trees. I can also feel your presence through two separate means, one nearly unique to me, the other, your chakra. And when you are not careful, I can hear you."

Eyes wide, Suzume responded, "Sensei, you _never_ give a straight answer to that question. What's wrong?"

At her response, Naruto failed to stifle a small chuckle. "Have I really become so predictable? Hmm, perhaps it is good then, that I am to leave within the next two days."

"What! But-but you belong with us! We need you sensei...I need you…" At first Suzume was so surprised she couldn't help but shout, but by the end she was mumbling. Of course, Naruto was a super soldier who had already enhanced senses elevated to a level superior to that of most animals.

"Suzume!" His tone firm, Naruto's student's head snapped up, looking at her teacher and savior with watery eyes. "Suzume. I know you have a crush-let me finish", in a gentle tone the sith called out to his student before stopping her interruption, "It is a crush. An infatuation. I suddenly appeared, killed men who intended you harm, saved your brother, unlocked your people's chakra, and taught you everything you know of the shinobi arts. You are a young, if rather talented, girl. I have done many thing that would direct positive emotions towards me. As of this moment, you believe me perfect, and so you have developed an infatuation with me."

With a few tears in her eyes, the young girl thought over her teacher's words. Sighing, she concluded he was right, but that didn't mean she had to like he was leaving. "Sensei, even if you're right that I only have a crush on you, I still want to know why you're leaving. You know that you're more than welcome to stay with either the villagers or my father's merchant caravan. To be honest, dad's probably going to hire the whole village and take them to one of the mulberry farms."

"I know that. And...I am not happy that I must leave. I have grown fond of our little group. To be honest, I have never had people to call my own. But I must return to my master." Having explained his reasons in as much detail as he could, he doubted even Suzume would think him sane if he tried to explain The Force and the fact that he was mostly alien, he turned away, simply looking down on the resting group. It was at that moment his head snapped up.

"Suzume, I have detected approximately fifty chakra signatures of varying levels approaching us from the north by northwest. They are moving at speed and in an attack pattern. Return to the camp and alert the guards, I will head them off. Do not attempt to back me up. Move the group up onto one of the nearby hills, other than that, normal defensive position."

"Hai!" Responding immediately, the young girl took off at an impressive speed for one with only two weeks of training. Though the unquestioning and instant response was more from the fact that all three of the times that there had been trouble, Naruto had immediately stepped up and took command of the all knew he was the best leader among their group and none questioned his prowess in battle.

Now, the sith warrior launched himself from the cliff face, a burst of chakra ensuring he was well clear of the trees below. Once he had taken to the air, he channeled the force around him, pushing himself forward. As he flew to intercept the approaching shinobi he cloaked himself in the force, preventing any of his chakra from escaping from his body. Relying on his senses to detect his target, he angled himself downwards. Falling from the sky he grabbed the shinobi furthest from the center, snapping the man up as he plummeted from the trees. Holding the now terrified man in his claws, the sith looked into the man's eyes and _pushed_. Completely lacking in finesse or technique, Naruto reduced the nukenin to a vegetable as he ravaged the man's mind and ripped the desired information from his victim.

Launching himself into the sky, Naruto aimed for a clearing around a minute ahead of the incoming shinobi. And with a snarl he let himself fall. After ten or so seconds, he touched down. Turning, he faced the oncoming shinobi and waited until they were just about on top of him. As they were seconds from passing him, the warrior flared his chakra, as high and bright as he could. In that moment the world shivered as it felt the Kyuubi no Yoko's heir announce its presence. A chakra even greater and more malevolent than the feared Demon Fox's youki filled the air, freezing the shinobi with its presence. In that moment, each and every man heard the terrible command that they could not yet truly understand, " **Come!"**

As the hostile shinobi closed in on him, Naruto stood proudly, his face showing nothing but a bit of mild disappointment that his enemies were so clearly lacking in subtlety. Once the group had surrounded him, Naruto spoke, "Kurosuki Raiga, Suien of Takigakure, and Rokusho Aoi, come out. You can not hide from me."

At his words three men leapt from the trees. The first was a rather tall man, still shorter than Naruto, with shoulder length green hair and clothed in a large black cloak. The second was an older brown haired man wearing a tan bandana over his hair and black clothing. The third man was also green haired, wearing an Amegakure hitai-ate and a white outfit. Stepping forward, Aoi began to speak, "Damn, you are one ugly motherfucker! I mean, I was expecting you to be pretty damn hideous, but actually have _face tentacles_!"

"Rokusho, shut up. You felt his chakra, this is serious."

"Screw you Suien, he was probably just pulsing his chakra super high. I mean, I've felt jinchuuriki before and he can't have more than them!"

"Did you consider that he may be a jinchuuriki himself!"

At that moment several black projectiles impaled themselves into the ground a few centimeters away from the bickering shinobi. Naruto spoke up, "Enough talking, I'm rather bored, so I'm gonna kill you now!"

Launching himself forwards, Naruto couldn't stop the manic grin from clawing its way onto his face. As he approached the three nukenin he felt multiple hostiles approach from behind him and from the side. Dropping all of his weight onto his right leg, he spun in place while his momentum had him continue to tear up the ground as he slid forward. Once the shinobi had entered into his reach Naruto lashed out with his claws, disemboweling the first hostile faster than the rest could see. Once again shifting his considerable weight, Naruto dropped further to his right, grabbing a second enemy by the leg as he moved past him. Tossing the man up by the leg, the sith grabbed his victims second leg and promptly kicked the man in the crotch. So much force was exerted that the man's pelvis collapsed, his intestines ruptured, and his heart stopped from the shock. Using the corpse as a blunt instrument, the rather entertained sith slammed the other three shinobi that had attempted to intercept him back into the tree line, killing two of them. Sliding to a stop, Naruto let a deep, barking laugh escape his lips. It seemed his little display worked better than he had hoped. Each and every shinobi there was now focused on him to the exclusion of all else. Deciding to play with his enemies, and give them an opportunity to regroup and make this a bit more interesting for him, Naruto spoke up, "So, how much is the price on my head? I mean, obviously, it's pretty damn big to get this many shinobi after me."

Kurosuki, stepping forward, replied, "Right now, twenty five hundred ryo."

Whistling appreciatively, Naruto continued the little talk, "I hope you guys are being paid in gold. I mean, even if they pay you in brass, that's still two and a half million coins.*

"So...I'm pretty sure we've already lost." Turning his head, Kurosuki grimaced. "When you're done playing with these assholes, I've got a proposition for you."

Intrigued, Naruto nodded his head. At that moment, with a call of "Fire!" forty five jutsu, twenty of lightning, the rest of water, were launched at him. A dancing wall of lightning enhanced water rushed at him, fully intending on electrocuting or crushing him to death. Returning to the battle, Naruto let his face slip back into a grin, and slowed his breathing. Seven seconds until the technique hit him. In. Six seconds. Out. Five seconds. In. Four seconds. Out. Three seconds. In. Two seconds. **OUT**! With a roar from the sith, a ball of fire many, many times larger than he was erupted from his maw. As the technique collided inches from his face, Naruto watched the grass catch fire, just to disintegrate. He watched the particles of water evaporate around the fireball, even as the lightning merged with the flame technique. The only reason his clothes survived was thanks to the fact that he had manifested a weak chakra cloak, offering the fabric protection from the raging inferno mere meters from them.

After twenty seconds of battling, a full twenty shinobi collapsed from chakra exhaustion. The rest did their best to escape the oncoming destruction. Of the forty five ninja that had attacked, eighteen escaped the jutsu. Those that survived held nothing but rage on their faces, Naruto's darkside aura pushing their baser emotions to the fore, clouding his enemy's focus. As the remaining warriors charged, Naruto waited. Thirty seconds later, a massive eruption lit up the sky. About a kilometer up and away from the fight, the fireball had lost cohesion and finally detonated. Exploiting the momentary distraction, the sith warrior darted forward, closing with his nearest enemy. Forcing his way into his opponents guard with a shoulder check, Naruto followed through with a powerful left spearhand, fully impaling his enemy though the shinobi's chest.

Seeing their target closing with them, the remaining shinobi drew weapons of all kinds. Some wielded katana, others kunai, some kusari gama, and one even held a kanabo. What drew Naruto's attention however, was what could only be a lightsaber. Seeing his opponents look, Rokusho smirked, and then taunted, "See this you son of a bitch? This is the legendary Raijin no ken! The sword of the Nidaime Hokage! And I'm gonna use it to cut you the fuck up!"

Naruto sighed, he would investigate the sword later. Right now, he had victims to butcher. Focusing chakra into his limbs, he readied himself to end this fight. The second his enemies began to charge, Naruto launched himself against them once more. His first target was the kanabo wielding idiot. The man was a bit larger than the rest, but much slower. He didn't seem to be strong enough to properly use his intimidating, for a normal person, weapon. Naruto punished his folly by driving his heel spike through the man's skull and promptly used his most recent kill to propel himself forward. Hitting his next target foot first, he found himself standing on top of a man with a now crushed rib cage. Twisting at the waist, the sith narrowly dodged a twin sword strike from some idiot trying to duel wield two daito, by the gods did Naruto hate ass holes like that. As he broke the man's right arm and then impaled him on the weapon he dropped, Naruto began to openly rant as he continued his slaughter.

"You know, if you're going to use an over long sword, at least use one you're familiar with" Here he paused to rip a pinned man's throat out with his teeth. "And if you're gonna wield two weapons, regardless of what they are, fucking train with them first!" Again pausing to disembowel his latest target, he spun on his foot and moved to the edge of the group of shinobi. Pulsing his chakra, he then pulled his force energy to the fore and dashed forward. Ending the technique, he looked down at the man he had impaled with both his hands. "You know, it doesn't matter how cool your sword is, if you never learn how to use the damn thing." Tossing the strange shinobi's corpse to the side, he picked up the Raijin no Ken.

Running a bit of Force energy through the sword, Naruto felt _something_. Though it was very, very strange. Honestly, whoever had converted the weapon had done a pretty crap job. It was like it ran half off force energy, half off chakra. Add to that, the base requirements were pretty intense, no wonder the asshole who had been swinging the thing around was so crap with it. All together, it would have killed the man to use it at full power for more than a minute.

Pulling his chakra back into himself and then directing it into the sword , Naruto could only smile as a white blue blade jumped from the hilt of the weapon. Turning to the remaining hostiles, who were at that moment charging towards him in a frenzy, eyes bleeding and mouths foaming, Naruto unleashed a wave of lightning natured chakra from the sword. As the energy impacted his enemies, Naruto watched as the energy cooked the men alive. Their eyes burst, their skin burned, and to a man, their hair and clothes caught on fire. He turned away, it was time to speak with Kurosuki.

"So, you had a proposition?"

Kurosuki Raiga was a veteran warrior, former ANBU, a missing nin, and a madman. And the blood drenched abomination standing before him, twirling a legendary weapon like it was a stick terrified him. However, he did not wish to speak with this being for his own sake, but for Ranmaru's. The one good thing in his life was under threat. Under threat from Raiga himself. He felt his control slipping just a bit more every day that passed. Sooner or later, there was no telling _what_ he would do. And this being was looking after a group of civilians, at seemingly no cost to them. Surely, he would look after one more child, especially one so valuable.

Swallowing, Kurosuki spoke, "Yeah. I was hoping...hoping you would look after my partner. He's nearly crippled, but he posses a doujutsu, a powerful one, that works like a combination of the byakugan and the sharingan.

"And what do you offer?"

"I _was_ going to offer to duel you one on one, let you take the kiba swords like you don't need a sword, much less mine now." Grimacing, Kurosuki considered what else he might offer. Realistically, the only other things he knew were a few B rank water and lightning techniques, a handful of A rank abilities, and the art of silent killing. He could probably offer to write down the techniques and the basics of the art, but that wouldn't be much to the monster in front of him.

"Why would I have wanted your swords?"

"You...you don't know who I am!?"

"Should I?"

Sighing, Kurosuki felt a twitch form in his brow, but he needed to stay calm, "I am Kurosuki Raiga, former member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū. I'm also ex ANBU and a was a jounin back in Kiri. 'fore I went nukenin anyways."

"So. You were a jounin. That means you could teach?"

Sighing, Raiga knew this was the worst thing the man could ask, "Look, I can't do that." Seeing the man, he was reasonably sure the being was male, raise an eyebrow, he continued, "It's got to do with why I can't look after the kid myself. Seems like, after killing a _lot_ of people, something kinda broke up there." While the vague gestures to his head probably got his point across, Raiga knew he wasn't being particularly clear with what he was trying to say.

"Look, I've been killing for a long time. For the most part, it didn't bother me. Hell I enjoyed it, maybe not as much as you did… Anyways, after I found the kid, well, I got a conscience. And it's telling me to try to keep the kid safe." At this point, he took Ranmaru off his back and opened the grey bag the boy was carried in. "Ranmaru, let him know what you can do."

"Um...I'm not very strong, but my eyes allow me to see through any barriers, wood, stone, whatever. Also, I can see chakra signatures, and I can interfere with other dojutsu. There was a man with an implanted byakugan back in kiri, so I know I _can_ do something, I just don't know how powerful that technique is. But I'm not really sure what the limit of my doujutsu is."

With his explanation done, Kurosuki knelt down next to Ranmaru and put his hand on the boy's shoulder, a small smile on the older man lips. For Ranmaru, this was enough to help the boy overcome some of the nervousness he was feeling and he gave a shy smile in response. Naruto however, had something of an idea of the two's relationship, and decided to kill several birds with one stone.

"So, you're willing to give Ranmaru to a random stranger, with whom you have only seen kill many men. Additionally, you have not attempted to contact anyone else about this?"

At this the nukenin gave a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his head, "Well, I'm kind'a desperate, and you've got a bunch of civilians with you. So...you know…"

Once again raising an eyebrow, Naruto responded, "Yes, I do know. Any village would likely use him as breeding stock to create a force of doujutsu users. Especially since it can counter the byakugan, one of the strongest doujutsus remaining. At worst, they'd dissect him and try to create artificial users."

At this Ranmaru grew rather pale, with Kurosuki responding, "So you get why I came to someone like you and not somewhere like Konoha or Kumo?"

Nodding, Naruto thought over his next words carefully. If this worked out, he could gain a great deal at little to no cost. "I may be able to heal your mind. And heal Ranmaru's body. But it is going to cost you. Also, if it goes badly, you will end up brain dead, at best."

As he said that, the others eyes shot open. What they were being offered was more than they could have ever hoped for, so both immediately became suspicious. "So, what do you want? And even if I do agree with it, I want your word that you'll take care of Ranmaru if something goes wrong!"

Again nodding, Naruto spoke, "I guarantee you that I will see the boy taken care of. And I want your knowledge, your skills, and your aid. I can not remain with...my people for ever. I want you to train them as best you can and protect them when I cannot. It would also be remiss of me to not tell you that both techniques will be highly unpleasant."

With thoughtful looks on their faces, the two began to discuss what they intended to do. Turning away from them, the young sith gave the pair a bit of privacy. That he could hear every word that they said, well that went unsaid. Turning back to the sith, Raiga nodded.

"Very well. Kurosuki Raiga, look into my eyes, do not resist me, and open your mind!"

Grabbing the shinobi's face, Naruto formed a mental lance and struck out with it. As the man did have rather significant reserves of chakra, the young sith had been required to put a great deal of force into his probe. That Kurosuki did not cry out when the mental probe struck proved the discipline of the man in question and in moments Naruto was within the man's mind.

As Naruto had roughly forced his way through the barriers protecting Kurosuki, he had no way to control what he saw. So it was with a sense of disgust he watched the life of Kurosuki Raiga play out. The man had never had a childhood. His father had been an alcoholic former shinobi. Not good enough to serve for his entire life, but talented enough to avoid repercussions for his beating of Raiga and Raiga's mother. As the years scrolled by Naruto watched as Kurosuki's mother committed suicide and the young boy killed his drunk father in retaliation. Brutal academy years flew past, with only a moment's hesitation when a young Kurosuki killed several other boys during graduation.

The rest of the memories were a blur with only a few things standing out. However, Naruto had seen enough to know what he needed to fix. And so he got to work. While it was most certainly not perfect, his efforts were passable. The worst of the memories were blunted, just enough to take the edge off. Kurosuki's more violent impulses would be dulled, though great care was taken to leave what killer instinct the man might have intact. A few things, like his mother's suicide, were simply buried deeply enough to not affect the man directly. All together, someone who had even a moderate amount of skill at manipulating another's mind would deride Naruto's effort as amateurish at best. Considering this was the first time Naruto had actually done something more than sending out particularly strong emotions or ripping information from a mind, the chakra barrier, and Naruto's utter lack of skill in the mind arts, it was rather good.

Withdrawing from Kurosuki's mind, the first thing the sith noticed was that the aforementioned shinobi was bleeding rather heavily from his nose. Rather than panicking, Naruto drew on the darkside, his yellow eyes turning red, and focused the force energy on his potential ally. After a few moments, the bleeding stopped and Kurosuki was not only fully healed, but was the healthiest he had ever been in his life. After setting the man down on the ground, Naruto turned to the young boy, still channeling the force, and motioned for the child to approach him.

Reaching out and touching the young boy's head, Naruto relaxed somewhat. The boy's deficiencies seemed genetic, but the physical side effects would be easily fixed. Where Naruto's experience with sentient minds was almost completely focused on overpowering or burning them out, his knowledge of the anatomy of more than two hundred species was quite extensive. Admittedly, it was focused on the most efficient, painful, or amusing way to take them apart, but it was still just as effective when it came time to put them back together. With that in mind, the boy's issues, mostly an issue with the protein chains that made up his muscles, were solved and the more delicate task of fixing the child's genetic structure could begin.

After about half an hour of standing there with his hand on the child's head and his mind looking at the boy's genetic structure, not entirely dissimilar from his own pre-change genes though not quite as efficient, he decided on his course of action. A single, massive burst of darkside energy focused on "purification" followed by flooding the boy's body with darkside energy under the control of his dark transference. It was the energies that were released, once Naruto began, that awoke Kurosuki. And to his slight trepidation he saw Ranmaru's face pale to the point he looked more like a corpse; while the child's veins grew and turned black. Thankfully, for Kurosuki, the moments passed quickly and Ranmaru fell unconscious the second Naruto withdrew his hand.

Turning to look at the now awake nin, Naruto simply stated "It is done" and picked both of them up. Knowing that Ranmaru was safe, Kurosuki allowed exhaustion to take him and slipped back into the most peaceful sleep he'd had in years. Naruto carried the now normal Ranmaru and Kurosuki with him as he leapt towards where the villagers were camped. With The Force, it was but a matter of moments before the sith arrived at his objective. Nodding at the guards, who spiked their chakra at his appearance (as he had taught them), he handed his two newest travelling companions over as soon as his men had confirmed he was not an illusion. With only a few instructions to keep a full watch for the full night and insurances that there were no nearby shinobi, Naruto leapt into a the boughs of a large tree and for the first time in roughly a month, went to sleep.

 **24 Hours Later**

As Naruto leapt through the forest that made up most of Hi no Kuni, he thought back to what had happened. The villagers had welcomed both Kurosuki and Ranmaru. As they explained it upon his questioning, they trusted him. And if he said these two were to teach and protect them, they would do all they could to make the nukenin's job as easy as possible. Admittedly, the side effects of Naruto's "healing" of Kurosuki's mind may have helped with that. Instead of a cold and violent shinobi, he had become a quiet and rather thoughtful man. When asked about it, he had admitted that his emotions were blunted and that his impulsive nature had been almost entirely removed. It seemed that the man had been rather pleased with the outcome all things considered. Ranmaru himself was just happy that the man who gave him the world would be able to stick around and that he could make a few new friends.

However, the rest of the group was a bit more upset by his leaving. For the most part, the villagers understood that most people would not take his appearance well. The only exceptions were the young children, who would much rather their new protector remain with them. It was a particularly disconcerting for Naruto, considering his life up onto that point. Seeing how his village abused him and the majority of the rest of his life was spent in an underground bunker, that was rather understandable. Ultimately, his assurances they would be safe were accepted and he was able to part from them. Their parents, on the other hands, were understanding of how things would likely work. And the most certainly did not want their protector to suffer at the hands of the Daimyo or his men.

It was a rather somber meeting between Eiji, his son Ichirou, one of the guards Naruto had healed, and Suzume. Eiji was sad his drinking partner would be gone and Ichirou was disappointed Naruto would no longer be able to teach him. Suzume, now that she had gotten her crush under control, which Naruto fully blamed on the darkside aura he constantly put out, was rather sad, but ultimately would continue to train to one day be strong enough to defend her family. And the only reason that Naruto had shown them the **Kage Bunshin** was to make sure they got the most out of the training they possibly could.

When he was ready to leave, after leaving behind several scrolls containing everything he knew of the shinobi arts, the villagers saw him off with cheer and a wave, particularly large from the guards, and it was with a sigh he turned and left.

Now, he was only a few hours away from his base, cradling a small sample of Ranmaru's blood held in a canteen, and he was more than ready to report in and get a shower.

 **A.N. Well guys, there you have it. Hit me with any questions you have, I tend to reply via PM, and I'm already working on the next chapter. To clarify a few things, the Ryo I use are the gold Ryo worth four koku (google it). All together, the bounty was worth about a million dollars. If anyone wants clarification on any powers or abilities I'm more than ready to drop links as all powers that Naruto has used have been canon powers (except the dragon's dance).**


	4. So Begins the Fall

**A.N. Hey guys, it's been a while. Just so you guys know, I think I'm actually getting better at my writing with regards to output. I've simply had a few other kettles on the stove and got a bit distracted, sorry, I take full blame for that. On that note, would you guys be interested in me writing the 1st chapters to a few other stories? They probably won't go anywhere for a while, but I have enough ideas that it may actually help me remain committed for longer.**

 **On a more important note, I would like to take a moment to thanks Lord Asmodeus for challenging me on my character's philosophy (I promise to try to remain in communication as best I can), Doctor Dandy for leaving comprehensive reviews, and TSAImpregnable for leaving regular and thorough reviews. I appreciate all those who leave reviews, especially ones that point out my flaws, but all three of you have significantly contributed to making me a better author. Thank you for all your help.**

 **To everyone else, thank you for your patience and continued support, have at it!**

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

" **Demon speech and techniques** "

Disclaimer: I own neither Starwars nor Naruto.

 **47 BBY Month 1**

'It is rather amusing, if somewhat understandable, that what calms me down the most is physical training.' While his thoughts were currently focused on the fact that his bad mood was only being improved by working his body as hard as he could, the rest of Uzumaki Naruto was focused on his current exercise. It was rather simple in theory, if not so in practice. He had, with nothing but his chakra, attached exactly ten thousand kilograms of metal plates to his back and was currently doing pushups. While hanging from the ceiling of his training room. The exercise was one of his favorites, if for no other reason than the sheer number of techniques he was training at once. He trained brute force chakra control by keeping the weights attached to his body, fine control be keeping his hands and claw tips attached to the ceiling while preventing the chakra from reinforcing his muscles, and physical strength through the push ups themselves.

But in the end, he still needed to deal with the fact he was doubting himself. It had not been that long ago when he had essentially locked all of his emotions except for his anger away. Then his parents appeared before him. Of course, he could deal with just locking that part of himself away again, but then he met those villagers… Sighing, Naruto admitted to himself that he was emotionally compromised. However, that did not seem to be such a bad thing.

With a mental shrug, the young Sith cut the flow of chakra to his hands and allowed himself to drop to the ground, twisting so that his feet would strike the ground first. A moments after putting the weights away, and just as he was preparing to begin practicing his moving meditation, he felt _something_. Thankfully, he did not feel fear, the chemicals that would produce anything other than mild anxiety at most were blocked by his various energies, but he did realise something very bad was going to happen. In fact, something very, _very_ bad was likely about to happen because he was absolutely horrible at sensing the future in even the smallest of ways. What this meant was that he failed to even gain the standard predictive ability most force adepts had to use in combat. Hell, it was so bad that he only received an incredibly small warning when sparring his master. So that meant he was _very_ mildly anxious since he was receiving a feeling _inside_ his _secret_ , underground base.

With a pulse of chakra, Naruto found himself dried of the sweat his training had produced and was leaping through the entrance to his training area. Once he had entered the main hallways of the base he pulsed his chakra once again, this time to locate his Master. Having detected the void that represented his Master's Force presence within the base's meditation chambers, Naruto began moving as quickly as he could without damaging his surroundings.

After his short trip, he came to entrance to the meditation chambers. Pushing a small amount of Force energy into the entryway, a plain black door, he stepped into the room. The chamber, like most important rooms inside the base, was rather large, exactly forty meters square. The only things within the room itself were four large pillars, covered in the writings of great force sages, both Light and Dark, and the mosaic depicting various scenes of ancient temple life of both Jedi and Sith covering the walls of the room. The ceiling and floor were both slate grey and completely unadorned. Normally, it seemed to be a solemn place, the air heavy with latent Force energy and an undercurrent of some hidden wisdom seemed to permeate the chamber, as if enlightenment could be reached by simply studying the writings and depictions within the room. Now, there was a metallic stench, as if far too much **Sith Lightning** had been unleashed within an enclosed space, and it only gave off feelings of decay and somehow being filled with nameless and unclean... _things_. And it was in this tainted place that the Sith Warrior found his master. Sitting, calmly in the very center of the room. But he was not alone.

No, the Sith saw a being, a spirit or shade of some kind, standing above his Master. The thing was tall, as tall as Naruto was, and was reaching into his master. But other than that the spirit remained indistinct, as if an oily veil was hiding all other features, hiding his true nature from all but those that could recognize him. And reaching out with the part of The Force that was uniquely him, the Sith found that this being was the source of the corruption within the room, within his Master, but the most disturbing things, was that Naruto felt an echo of the spirit within himself. It was as he was coming to terms with that information that the spirit slipped inside his Master and in that moment the silence was broken.

"So...you have returned...my _apprentice_." The hiss that came from his Master's lips sounded unnatural to Naruto, but still, the boy almost flinched at the hatred that was in the final word. Almost as if "apprentice" was something to be scorned and detested.

Carefully, slowly, and oh so respectfully, for Revan was still beyond him, Naruto knelt, slipping into a seiza. "I have returned my Master."

"Perhaps, or perhaps you have another reason for seeking me out?"

Confused, Naruto responded as best he could, "No, my Master. I have returned now that my task is complete. There is no other reason."

It was with a dark and bitter chuckle that Revan responded, "Oh? So you have not returned to _complete_ your training?"

Eyes widening at the realization of what the spirit had been doing to his Master, Naruto tensed his body. "Master, I have no intention of striking you down." And with those words, the young warrior felt his teacher's entire demeanor change. Without a second thought, he threw himself to the left of his sitting position, barely dodging a thrown sword as he did so.

Screaming, Revan began to gather Force energy in his palms, "DO NOT LIE TO ME BOY! I TOOK YOU IN, TRAINED YOU, AND YOU REPAY ME WITH BETRAYAL!?"

What happened next completely took Naruto by surprise. Darkside energies, all with the taint of the spirit, began to take physical shape, and in a matter of seconds a pair of black lightsabers had formed, twin white blades erupting from them, both within his Master's hands. It was without even a moment's hesitation that he called **Gentle Touch** to his hands and the very moment his bonded weapon had materialized Naruto leapt at his Master.

Some would find it rather surprising, given that Naruto had no desire to see his Master dead, that the boy would attack with all the fury and rage he could muster. But, the truth was simple. Revan, even without the spirit empowering him, was quite simply far more experienced than Naruto. And it was within the clashing of the great sword and twin lightsabers that Naruto allowed a grin to claw its way onto his face. Twisting, leaping, turning, the exchange of slashes and parries marked the most intense battle the young warrior had ever fought. Explosions of sound and displaced air marked the meeting location of each and every single strike. As the two fought, the whole of the base shook.

In a slight lull in the battle, the two circling each other, Naruto looked over his Master. He looked terrible. Revan's skin was grey and seemingly decaying, his hair falling out in places, and his eyes had changed. The stern and occasionally warm grey eyes were now a glowing red, with a black pupil having seemingly consumed the iris. In fact, the whole of the man seemed more beast than anything else. And as that moment passed the battle recommenced. The two warriors remained silent, not even a grunt of discomfort passing their lips.

As the two fought, Naruto began to be slowly overwhelmed and with the passage of each minute he was more and more on the defence. The sole reason the boy had held out as long as he had was the years of experience dueling this single man. Revan, over the course of his long, long military career, had been in no less than three wars. The Mandalorian War, his Jedi Civil War, and The Second War of the Empire when he had gone to confront the Sith Emperor for the last time. In all that time, not only had tens of thousands of Force Adepts fallen to him, but tens of thousands more common soldiers and mercenaries as well. He had even slain entire bounty hunter families. To put it in the most basic terms, the man had fought and killed sentients from every major species, many of the minor ones, and had battled and won against the most terrible beasts The Force and evolution could produce. Naruto, for all of his accelerated training, still had only experienced battle for a few, short years and never against an opponent like his possessed Master.

In truth, Naruto did have a few advantages over his Master. For one, raw power. The boy had nearly unlimited stamina and his connection to the force was both great and intimate. Another was his sword, Gentle Touch. While Revan held two lightsabers, seemingly created through the Will of the Force, they were simple and nameless plasma blades. Gentle Touch was a greatsword and her sheer size along with the many enhancements placed upon her during her "birth" had allowed her to weaken the lightsabers and disrupt Revan's connection to the fel spirit empowering him, while draining the powers of both. And it was these two things along with the aforementioned experience in dueling his Master that allowed Naruto to keep up, if barely, with his enraged teacher for as long as he had. Now that his Master's experience was showing through, each of Revan's swings coming just a little faster and a little closer to tasting Naruto's blood, the young Sith knew he had only one option if he wished to survive, never mind win.

And so the sword battle continued, on and on, neither ceasing, neither tiring, and neither yielding distance to the other. Perhaps it showed their love of battle or simple mindedness, but neither of the two reached for their more esoteric powers, no matter how great the temptation. Their combat almost seemed to be the two dancing with the other, communicating through their swords in, perhaps, the most intimate way two beings might communicate without touching minds or souls. One, the smaller and older, flashed forward with his twin blades. Darting about and seeking blood. The other, tall and broad, struck hard and with great precision. It was with supreme skill that he would shift his greatsword ever so slightly to block first one sword and then another. On and on they fought, one with frenetic, almost panicked, intensity, never ceasing movement; the other with the cold and unflinching resolve of inevitably. But still, this was a battle and the Apprentice would not overcome his Master as he was.

Of course, the solution was rather simple; he was born a shinobi, was he not? So at the very crux of the battle itself, the very moment The Dark Lord Revan engaged in battering his student's defenses aside, Naruto unleashed _all_ the Force energy he could, knocking his Master back a meager four meters. And as his Master began to right his stance, moments before he readied himself to unleash a wave of Dark energy, Naruto unleashed the power of chakra upon his enemy. A wave of youki, loaded with the intent to kill and dominate, spread through the room. As the competing energies began to dance, the mortal materials used to make this place of power began to fail. The pillars started to weaken, the mosaics peel and fade, and all around them destruction was unleashed. Ultimately, the chamber held, but it would be forever warped.

When the dust and smoke cleared, the two combatants were once again revealed. Revan's skin had begun to blacken, the spirit within him channeling more of its corrupted energies, and his flesh began to wither. At the end of the transformation the man was left looking more like a corpse than a conqueror. Naruto, however, was now covered in a mass of bubbling red chakra with three large tails formed behind him. Notably, his claws, teeth, and spikes had grown while his whiskers had stretched almost to the back of his head. His eyes, however, were now a baleful red, still lacking a pupil or iris. And again, the one to make the first strike was the young Sith. With a leap he launched himself at his master...only to cut him in twain. It was a perfect vertical bisection, the organs were almost perfect in their appearance, the smell of charred flesh filled his nostrils, and as the corpse fell apart the splatter of various fluids was truly random in its dispersal. But the illusion was ruined by the fact that the spirit's corrupted power was still there.  
" **Spirit, I was insulted when you possessed my Master, embarrassed for you when you couldn't defeat an eleven year old apprentice. Now... now I am** _ **enraged**_ **that you think such a poor trick would be enough to fool me.** "

With a snarl, four copies of Revan leapt from behind the pillars, closing with and striking at their apprentice in an unthinking rage. Ironically, as the spirit continued to empower Revan, the man's own skills were drowned in the blind hatred channeled through him. Where before each strike, no matter how intense or hurried, was executed with grace and skill, now he was clumsy. The blows were coming harder and faster, but falling into predictable patterns and none of the fluid perfection or precision remained. It was a child wailing against a training target, not a master overwhelming an opponent. Of course, that would have made little difference considering he was fighting four solid clones, each approaching his own levels in pure strength and eclipsing him slightly in speed, if it was not for the powers his chakra cloak granted.

As the clones struck from the sides and behind all three tails launched themselves at different targets, forcing the illusions to strike from a distance or risk impalement. Naruto himself had begun to strike his Master with all the fury he could muster, channeling more and more of the Kyuubi no Yoko's former youki as he went. In truth, he had claimed dominance and destroyed the guiding intelligence of the former biju, but the energy had made up the great beast for thousands of years and yet held an imprint of what it once was. And so, as two more tails formed, the shroud darkened, turning black with only hints of red forming around the edges. Once the cloak had stabilized into its second form the spikes and claws grew once again along with a lengthening of Naruto's limbs. Now in a five tailed state, the apprentice lashed out with all of his limbs, striking and dispelling two of the illusions at the same time.

With the two standing clones charging, the first illusion, the one that had taken the form of a bisected version of his Master, leapt at his back. Twisting, Naruto launched his tails at the two corporeal illusion, skewering both in multiple places. The third however, managed to not only block his sword strike, but slip past Naruto's guard. In that moment a single, rather thin, plasma beam darted forward, just fast enough to overcome the dodge, and struck the enraged Sith just below his heart. Fortunately for Naruto, the illusion of his Master had overextended himself and quickly fell. Unfortunately for the boy, he had to call upon more and more of what once made up the fox's powers. As the ninth tail formed and what appeared to be the skeleton of a heavily mutated fox took shape around the Sith's body, an ancient being of unimaginable power had finally decided to end this battle.

A bolt of black energy leapt from the shadows that had formed around the room, striking the chakra manifestation where the previous injury was already healing. With what could only be described as a roar of unimaginable rage, torrents of malevolent, glowing youki the color of old blood sloughed off the chakra entity, filling the room almost as if it was a liquid. Once the red energy had hit the walls and fully encountered the black mists, the Dark Side energy seemed to collapse in on itself, in the process revealing the true Revan. The very moment Naruto turned to, in his rage induced state, crush his Master, the Dark energy leapt into the decaying body of the once great conqueror. In a single moment the weak and broken flesh was burned away and the fel energy grabbed ahold of the man's very soul. With a cry of impotent rage the spirit itself tried to halt the process, and after finding it pointless instead gathered all of the energies swirling about the chamber and leapt at the wary Sith.

What followed was a brutal exchange of blows that left Naruto covered in multiple, deep wounds and the spirit standing over him, the warrior's injury leaving him at a fatal disadvantage. But even at the close, the young Sith would spit in the eye of Fate, defiant to the End. And with a final roar the spirit leapt at Naruto, seeking to claim a new and far more durable form for itself. At that moment three things came together in a perfect storm. Revan, in a desperate move threw all the power his fractured, but cognizant, mind had left into stopping the spirit, the youki that filled the chamber was constantly clawing at the being made of pure Force energy, and finally, the sheer stubborn bloody mindedness of the Uzumaki came to the forefront. In truth, the spirit was but a step from victory, but that single step was all Naruto needed. Lashing out with a chakra coated hand, a wave of red chakra chains managed to bind the hand of the spirit mere centimeters from reaching the downed warrior. And with a glint in his eye, Naruto willed hundreds of chains to strike out at the _thing_ that had taken his Master from him.

A shriek of pain heralded a truly ridiculous wave of energy that slammed into the young Sith, punching a hole through the durasteel reinforced chamber doors, shattering most of the boy's bones, dissipating most of his cloak, and reopening most of the barely healed injuries. As his consciousness began to fade, Naruto heard and saw his Master's ghost insult and then take a stand against the spirit, in what was either suicidal bravery or arrogance, likely both.

"Foolish ghost, my mind is my own once again! It seems that you can't even best a child past his tenth year! And now... now I, the Dark Lord Revan, shall bind and punish you for your arrogance! **Know the wrath of a true Sith!** " With his last roar, bolts of energy Naruto had never seen before were launched at all four of the pillars, caging the spirit and his Master in what looked to be white **Sith Lightning.** Turning, Revan smiled at his student for a final time as the chamber, now severely weakened, could no longer contain the energies unleashed within. Collapsing, the presences of both his Master and the fel spirit ceased. The last thing the boy heard was metal feet hitting metal floor.

 **47 BBY Month 2**

Grimacing, Uzumaki Naruto slipped one of his claws underneath his right eye, popping it out of his own head. While it was incredibly painful to have his optic nerve exposed to the air, never mind having to compress the eye enough to get it out of the socket, having to then remove a good bit of the optic nerve himself only exacerbated the situation. Of course, the fine machinery needed to perform this operation was _still_ too damaged to help and the young Sith had only his own enhanced physiology to blame for making any form of anesthetic useless. With nothing more than a grunt, he placed his now removed eyes into the hands of a waiting machine that would take both to be stored. Blind, he relied on his other, highly developed, senses to enter into the modified kolto tank that had been his constant companion over so many years. But, if all this meant he would gain access to those eyes, and the resurrection technique, Naruto was willing to do far more than just remove his own eyes and suppress his healing factor long enough to force his body into growing the new eyes.

Thankfully, this would likely be the final time he would need to undergo such a...trying procedure. After all, this was his final set of modifications. Now at a massive two hundred and eighty centimeters, he had eclipsed all of the previous expectations for his final height, and his weight had continued to increase with it. Based on the new information he would likely end up above three meters in height, within the top one percentile of possible Sith height, and large enough that he would have faced issues with gigantism had he not been a marvel of genetic engineering. Of course, his lungs had already been modified, a fused rib cage would cause severe trouble for any normal air pumping organs, along with his cardiovascular, endocrine, muscular, and skeletal systems, but the final tweaks to his chakra network, digestive, integumentary, lymphatic, nervous, renal, and reproductive systems needed to be made. As it was, his genetic code, which was impolitely described to him by ARMR as a "rather impressive looking clusterfuck" and more politely explained by Lady Surik as being of a similar nature to the legendary "Gordian Knot", had already been modified completely, the final set of changes was more or less an activation of what remained. That and his, potentially, final assimilation of someone else's powers.

Sighing, Naruto realized he was in for a long month. And the whole time he would have to feel his Master's final act taunting him. Now, he did not blame himself, that would be unnecessary and foolish, but Naruto did want to free Revan if it was anyway possible. Along with ARMR and Lady Surik, Naruto had formed a plan of action for when he was done with his modifications. Revan's spirit was still caged, and Naruto wished to free the man. Lady Surik lacked the knowledge to contain a spirit of the power Naruto had faced, and it was likely to have been greater than that of any Sith of legend based on how quickly it consumed Revan's physical form, so Surik advised Naruto to look beyond Force techniques in combating the thing. Naruto had decided he would leave the crumbling base, and it was in rather poor shape after his battle, taking everything of value with him that he could and seek out teachers in the way of the shinobi arts. In particular, he was going to seek out a **Fuinjutsu** teacher, preferably not the Toad Sage as Minato had mentioned the man was barely a master and had been surpassed by both of Naruto's parents, and the ruins of Uzu no Kuni. He had also been informed by his parents of some of the more unusual powers of the Elemental Nations and so he would head to the Land of Demons and seek out the priests there.

Feeling the liquid filling the tank that held him, Naruto placed the respiration mask over his mouth and closed his eyes. As there were no chemicals that could place him under, though he could still be rendered sluggish, he would simply sleep or meditate, he did have his entire mindscape to train in, for the month this was estimated to take. But in the end, he would wake up, spend a week getting used to his body, take what he needed, and set out for the fire capital. After all, he was a Sith, and Sith always need followers.

 **47 BBY Month 3**

Once again awakening to the sight of kolto draining into the floor, Naruto gathered a bit of chakra underneath his skin. Pulsing it, ever so slightly, he instantly dried. Taking the black pants, shirt, combat boots, matte grey chest piece, gauntlets, greaves, and mask from the waiting droids, Naruto dressed quickly, if somewhat less gracefully than he was used to. As he was moving towards the armory, ARMR began to speak in a frustratingly chipper tone.

"Master, I think you will find the results of the genetic examinations I have conducted while you were unconscious to be most interesting. Additionally, do you wish to hear the major changes that occurred while you were out?" Nearly snapping at the machine, Naruto bit out a sharp "speek" and continued on his way.

In the still chipper tone the machine had been set to, ARMR began, "First off, the DNA of the blood sample you brought in was clearly descended from a common ancestor of the sharingan. It was simple enough to combine the two during the final procedure, seeing as the genetic code for the sharingan was already stable. In turn, you likely share a common ancestor with both as well. To the point the markers for your own kekkai genkai shared noticeable similarities to those of the two foreign samples, to put it simply, you could be considered distant cousins, but most certainly family. And while we're on it, I further modified your eyes. If you focus on them, you should be able to control the nictitating membrane I gave you."

Stopping for a moment, Naruto first focused on his eyes. At the rather abrupt movement of his new eyelids, he realized his eyesight was reduced by about fifty percent but the fact he could now avoid being blinded and fight during sandstorms, blizzards, or free fall was more than worth the decrease in vision. However, it was the fact that all of what should have been disparate genetic traits carried enough similarities to positively identify not only a common ancestor, but remain "family" after several centuries, at minimum, was vaguely disturbing. Evolution does not occur like that, especially not in that time frame, and all together it gave more evidence to the idea that someone had been experimenting on the humans of this world.

At this point Naruto had reached the armory and stepped within. No matter how unlikely it would be for the children of Hagoromo and Hamura to maintain small, distinct groups with only small subsections of the population over, at minimum, a full millennium, it was not his current concern. No, now he had to move, to act. He had already lost two months.

"You have done well ARMR, have my final orders been carried out?"

"Yes, Master. All support tunnels have been filled in along with the breakdown of all materials used in their construction. The remaining facilities consist solely of the hangar, one armory, the medical facilities, the computer room, the droid storage room, and one tunnel exit. All resources are stored in the hangar along with all materials you aren't taking with you. Additionally, a copy of all information and schematics we had stored has been made and awaits you, along with a secure case, in the first locker on your left side."

"You have done well ARMR, what about the security units? How many remain?"

"Ultimately, a large amount of resources have been wasted during the shutdown. Of the fifty combat models, only twelve will remain active. All construction models have been shut down, additionally, the base itself has suffered severe damage. Most of the detailed surgical equipment is destroyed, the interceptor inside the hangar has been damaged, the few models that remain active will repair the damage to the best of their ability, and the industrial rooms collapsed in on themselves. Reactivating the base will not be possible with our current resources and I do not believe that this planet has the technology available to do so. That being said, all holocrons in storage have been drained of their energy and remain inert. As it stands, their knowledge only remains within you, Master."

After taking a small, silver case out of a security locker, Naruto nodded his head, seen by ARMR through the security cameras, he turned and made his way to the exit of the base. Stopping, he spoke for one last time to the AI "ARMR, thank you, and make sure you take care of the place. Because I _will_ be back."

With a single, soft reply, the AI bid farewell to his Master, "Of course. I'll keep the lights on." Their goodbyes said, Naruto moved quickly, leaving through the exit leading to The Forest of Death. It was the work of two hours to slip out of the village, it seemed the meditation chamber contained the energies of the fight, ensuring that the ANBU were still only on standby. Ultimately, Naruto was glad to see the last of the village that held so little for him. To his knowledge, the only ones that would miss him would be better off for his absence, no matter how much he may have once enjoyed their ramen. That said, he had no intentions of letting the village be destroyed, but now, now had something far more important to take care of.

 **Several Days Later**

As Naruto approached the main entrance of the Fire capital, he mused on how the city itself, known as the greatest city in the elemental nations, was actually rather poorly formed. The whole thing was a series of ringed sections, with four, not counting the palace grounds, increasingly large areas divided by walls of increasing height. Put simply, the Fire capital was never intended to serve as a city, seeing as it was originally intended to be a military fortification, and the planning of the eventual city displayed that.

The palace, converted from a massive stone citadel, sat on a moderately raised hill. Protected by a four meter high wall, guarded by two dozen towers, with four gates leading into separate courtyards. Those sections of the city to the sides were nearly ten meters lower than the walls themselves while the back of the citadel was protected by a major river. Unfortunately, a series of daimyos, overconfident in their power, had converted what would have been two additional lines of defense into opulent and utterly indefensible gardens. To hide the "ugliness" of the military structure, the current daimyo had modifications made to improve airflow, lighting, and the overall aesthetics of the structure. Ultimately giving shinobi multiple hiding places and entry points. This would not be as much of a problem as it was, had the daimyo not converted no less than six military barracks into display halls that held nothing but valuable works of art or trophies as opposed to squads of men. Even the skilled warriors of the daimyo's personal shinobi guard would be hard pressed to defend the whole structure.

Around it, the first section of the city was purely home to the bureaucracy of the city, their guards, and the favored sources of entertainment of the nobles. To put it bluntly, they housed the officials that were either the most effective at kissing ass or the most corrupt, their private soldiers, and the favored whores of both. It was a well lit, well paved, and very heavily patrolled sector with virtually no signs of litter. The wide streets and pleasing gardens and parks made the whole area attractive in appearance and all together a far more tasteful place than the palace. That the majority of people there were corrupt or far too self indulgent in one fashion or another went completely unsaid if you enjoyed having your head attached to your neck.

The second section housed the military forces of the daimyo. Symbolically, these warriors, ashigaru and bushi alike, defend both the daimyo and his "household". In practice, this allowed the nobles to remain a threat to the daimyo's palace if enough of them were to come together while also positioning their troops to be the least affected by peasant riots. Of course, that was ignoring the presence of The Twelve Guardian Shinobi. An honor guard, provided out of nothing but loyalty, to the daimyo by Konoha and wandering shinobi of Hi no Kuni. Obviously such men and women would never be used to spy on and monitor the daimyo. Unlike the first section, streets in this area were narrow, set out in a grid section, and with paved streets, though not as well as the first rings roads. Both section shared a sewer system that let out waste into the river behind the city, turning the waters black and brown. At its height, twenty five thousand ashigaru, five thousand bushi, and ten thousand dedicated police and firefighters would be housed in the ring. Additionally, supplies for the roughly seven thousand private soldiers and the elite three thousand man garrison of the citadel itself were brought through this ring.

The third ring was what housed the merchants and artisans and was also the most economically varied section of the city. Most of the wealthiest merchants and most renowned craftsmen lived in gated compounds in subdivided sections while minor officials and the common craftsmen lived in apartment buildings or their shops. An impressive red light district along with more reputable inns and gambling houses could be found here as well, often on the paths leading between the sections. By and large, the closer to the higher rings, the higher the class of the establishments, the exceptions being the highest class restaurants and places of entertainment, those were secluded in a subsection actively patrolled by the guards. As with all of it, the quality of living arrangements, roads, and whether or not the area was patrolled was proportional to how close the buildings were to the higher rings.

For the final ring, the area stretched from about two thirds the way around the farthest wall and for several square kilometers, connecting what had once been a port used for military patrols of the river, then fishermen, and most recently, tradesmen. An urban sprawl consisting of a mixture of every conceivable type of craftsmen and form of entertainment along with large apartment complexes, all made of wood, housed nearly three hundred thousand souls. The main roads were paved and patrolled, but the sprawl itself was rarely entered into by soldiers or nobles, and only then in force. As it was, the city was growing rather quickly in spite of the fact that its rulers and protectors were more interested in their games of intrigue or the latest fashion and what new plays were being put on. On the whole, four hundred and fifty thousand people called the Fire capital home.

As it was, this information had taken Naruto three hours to acquire. In fact, it took longer, another four hours, to find out where the villagers he had protected were being housed. By the time he had reached them it had been another two hours and Naruto was tired of moving at "human" walking speed. Now, he was not trying to blend in, a henge would have been more noticeable than his looks, seeing that would draw attention from the capital's shinobi garrison, not just a _few gawking peasants_. On a completely unrelated note, he also felt a stronger than normal urge to slaughter everyone and everything around him.

Thankfully, now that he had the general area his humans were staying in, he could focus his sensory abilities and hone in on them. Before, they had been drowned out in what amounted to "white noise" created by the sheer number of beings in such a small area. But that was no longer important, what was important was ensuring that they were safe and well. He had lost his master, by all the gods, old and new, he would _not_ allow something to happen to _his_ humans.

Moving quickly, the very, very tall being ignored the peasants that were _still_ gawking at him and simply disregarded the guards eyeing him. He was Sith, he could be subtle, or at least as subtle as someone as odd looking as he could be, when the situation called for it. And in this situation, uncensored brutality and a savage indulgence in bloodlust would only slow him down. No matter how annoying the humans were being. It was a matter of half an hour and Naruto had arrived at an apartment complex, of middling quality, that seemed to not only house the villagers, but the guards and owners of Eiji's caravan as well. Deciding to simply give up on any kind of anonymity, and he could not wait until he was in the wider galaxy as there he would at least be allowed to kill anyone who stared too long, Naruto slipped his mask off, double checked his hood, strode up to the front door, and walked inside.

With the ring of a bell, a call of "Just a minute!" was heard. However, what was more important to Naruto, was that Masahiro, the captain of the guards was in the entrance room. The young man stood at a respectable one hundred and seventy five centimeters, broad shouldered, and straight backed. With his neat, brown beard, weather worn skin, and obvious calluses on his hands the man had an appearance that screamed career military. Of course, the impressive scars on his right cheek, just below his dark brown eye, offered a significant hint to his line of work. Turning to the man, Naruto spoke up, "Captain."

"Uzumaki-dono! It's good to see you again! But, if you don't mind, what are you doing here?" As the man had been taught, he pulsed his chakra, lightly, upon seeing the Sith. After all, the Fire capital held many shinobi, and he had no reason to suspect that Naruto would return.

"Masahiro, not that it is unpleasant to see you, but should not Eiji have already set out?"

"Ah, you see Uzumaki-dono, there has been a series of very unpleasant events. The short explanation is that Eiji-san has been betrayed by his brother. When the caravan came in behind schedule, Eiji-san's partner, a noble by the name of Mukotsu, convinced the fire court to grant him sole control over the business. As I understand it, the man simply bribed a number of courtiers to convince the daimyo to turn over the ownership of the mulberry farms, the source of Eiji-san's wealth and business, to Mukotsu. After that, Eiji-san had no choice but to sell his remaining supplies and materials to Mukotsu, at a greatly discounted price I might add."

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto asked, "What does the man look like?"

Shuffling, Masahiro looked a little embarrassed, "Well...he looks like he's a toad of some kind. Only about a hundred and twenty centimeters but at least a hundred and eighty kilos. He has red markings on his cheeks, no hair from what I could tell, and he had bulbous eyes."

"One final question, what is causing you to seem embarrassed?"

Blushing, Masahiro responded, "I may have called him a bloated frog man that was the unholy offspring of a rock and dead toad. And then beat the men he sent to punish me for my insult...twice."

Nodding, Naruto understood the man's reticence. The Sith had stressed the importance of subtlety in dealing with enemies like this Mukotsu. However, this was far from the time to chastise the man, not to mention Masahiro had only had a few weeks of his training. So, focusing, he created a single, sealless, and smokeless shadow clone. There was no need for orders, but it was rather obvious that this clone was tasked with...punishing the noble that had threatened Naruto's humans. It would be nice to vent his earlier frustrations.

"We shall deal with your indiscretion later, for now, I must speak with Eiji and Satoru. They are still here, correct?"

"Yes, Uzumaki-dono, they are currently in one of the back rooms. Follow me and I shall take you to them." Turning quickly, the guard simply nodded his head to the owner of the complex, who in turn nodded back. It was a simple arrangement, the owner didn't ask questions and he received an extra ten percent that didn't need to be reported when it came time to pay for rent. With this deal covering several hundred people, the owner's greed meant his "beloved" tenants had an ironclad alibi for anything unusual and the villagers could plan and train in secret. Never mind the fact that an A rank nukenin was staying there as well.

After a short walk the pair reached their goal and stepped in. Immediately the individuals inside looked up. Hisakawa Eiji, the silk merchant, looked both a bit better and a bit worse than when Naruto had seen him last. Before, the hundred and seventy centimeter tall man was a little pudgy, now his arms showed a bit of muscle and his waistline was much smaller. However, his grey eyes had heavy bags under them and his black hair held far more grey in it than before Naruto had left. All in all, the man's features had sharpened up a bit, just enough to hint at a bit of warrior caste ancestry, but his skin was still tan and just a bit weathered. Now his son, the older brother of Suzume, looked more like a younger, slightly taller, clone of his father. Hisakawa Ichirou stood one hundred and seventy two centimeters tall and aside from the black eyes he inherited from his mother, he looked just like his father. Both men wore simple hemp kosode and hakama, with the coloration of both being green or brown.

Seeing their erstwhile, and still highly respected, protector before them, both men jumped up and quickly bowed. "Uzumaki-dono! It is good to see you again, but what are you doing here? Did you not have to attend to your teacher?"

Nodding for the men to sit down, Naruto took a place at the table, sitting in a seiza. "My Master has fallen and I can not help him as I am. I now must seek out those with powers and skills that I lack. But, that is to be discussed later, tell me, why have you not been reimbursed or assigned a new fief to live in with Satoru-san's people?"

Frowning, Eiji began to speak, "It began with our arrival. After the great fire that destroyed the village along with forcing our caravan off the usual path, we were still several days late. Even with your assistance. In that time Mukotsu, that traitorous bastard, bribed a minor official to declare my caravan missing and me dead. As such, he claimed control over all my properties to cover his investment." Sighing, Eiji looked down for a moment, "Honestly, this is all my fault. Because the official was found guilty of having taken bribes, he was executed. Once this happened, no other official would review my case and he bound both my case and the villager's cases together before he was killed. While I have no evidence, I believe that Mukotsu planned this as he came to me only hours later. He...he offered to make sure the daimyo granted the villagers a favorable placement if Suzume became his concubine."

Naruto took several deep breaths, his week was _not_ going well. Pulsing his chakra, he dispersed the clone he had already deployed, receiving memories that mainly told him Mukotsu had next to no sense of self preservation. He had many normal guards protecting an isolated compound, but he had no shinobi there. All in all, it would be the work of five minutes to kill the man. And that was if he wanted to be quiet about it. Deciding to get the man in front of him to continue, apparently having to calm himself down scared the man a bit, Naruto nodded.

Letting a small smile grace his features, Eiji continued, "Obviously, we refused. When Mukotsu decided to take issue with that, Raiga-san decided to take Suzume-chan out of the city for a while. After a bit of discussion, he took her, Ranmaru-san, and the two others who had managed the **Kage Bunshin** with him to continue their training. We all agreed it would be for the best if a nuke-nin wasn't within the Fire Capital."

"You did well Eiji-san. That being said, it seems that this place simply is not safe for either you or the villagers. And that neither you nor Satoru-san have a chance of being heard. If I could offer you a place to live, would you be willing to go there?"

Taking a few moments, Eiji considered his options. Mukotsu would likely remain an issue, even if Naruto did aid them, but the villagers themselves had few resources to make a journey to another country. That being said, such a journey would be infinitely easier as all of them knew how to use chakra to reinforce their bodies, Naruto had been quite insistent about that, and none of their group was suffering from any ailment that would slow them down.

Nodding slowly, Eiji accepted the offer, but he still needed more information, "I think all of the village would. And there is nothing left for my workers. All I ask is that you explain this idea to me and give my people enough time to gather their families."

"Of course. I plan to take you to my ancestral homeland, Uzu no Kuni. No others can reach that place and there is little to attract enemies or scavengers. As for the time needed to gather your worker's families, I will need to meet with Kurosuki-san and that could take some time. With that being said, gather your people, gather the villagers, and gather what supplies you shall need. I will deal with Mukotsu and find Kurosuki on my own." Standing up, quickly followed by the other three men, Naruto inclined his head to each man, receiving a bow in turn.

Slipping out of the apartment complex was simple enough, the owners were well bribed, and it was the work of a moment to identify any possible shinobi in the region. Thankfully, he had multiple sensory powers to call upon, letting him avoid sending out a pulse of chakra. Doing so would have immediately let any shinobi the pulse hit know that a foreign shinobi was active inside the capitol. As it was, anyone who trained enough, or was born with the talent, could passively detect the chakra given off by all living things. Obviously it required a great deal of training to gain much detail, but even a basic sensor could easily identify a shinobi that was not suppressing their chakra signature. Masters of the active technique, and Naruto was on his way to becoming one, could gain detailed and accurate maps of their surroundings and, when focused, perceive incredibly detailed information about their targets. Aside from his, often painfully, heightened senses of smell, hearing, taste, and sight, he could simply allow The Force to point out any concentrated voids of Force energy to him, sure indicators of a trained chakra user, even if they were trying to hide their strength.

Being quick about it, he slipped into a side alley and covered himself with the Darkside. A **Force Cloak** later and he was hidden to all the sensors and watchers of this world. Deciding to neutralize Mukotsu before he left, Naruto was very quick to take to the rooftops, courtesy of a Force enhanced jump, and he made his way to Mukotsu's compound. Having already sent a **Kage Bunshin** to survey the place, a prime watch point had already been identified, underneath an interior guard tower about two hundred meters away from the compound itself.

Mukotsu had clearly built his "home" more for wealth than defense and what defenses that were present were made garish and obvious by the way the clashed with the otherwise opulent and lavish compound. Built off of one of the paved roads within the third ring the rear of the area was flush with the wall protecting the second ring. A stone wall of medium height, a bit shy of two meters, that had two guards standing before a golden entry gate, likely gilded, that was decorated with images of Mukotsu himself. The guards themselves were wearing particularly bright uniforms, mostly consisting of bright blue and yellow, and held only simple clubs. They utterly lacked either proper weapons or any kind of armor.

Letting the Force slip from his grasp, Naruto took great care to keep his chakra suppressed, but began to slowly channel it into his eyes. Colors swirled in his yellow eyes for several seconds until they slowly faded to black. After kneeling in his position for around five minutes, dots of red began to form within the black, slowly taking the shape of three spinning tomoe. Once the tomoe had finished forming, a small, red pupil opened up, Letting his chakra run freely, Naruto felt his eyes begin to bleed. As the bright red blood slipped from his eyes the pupil began to expand, forming a four pointed pinwheel that, at first, covered the entire area of the previous design before shifting one final time. Blood began to fall freely, enough to surprise, but not worry, Naruto as he felt his eyes begin to burn. Pushing more and more chakra into his eyes, the world seemed to shudder as the red formed a spiral where the pupil once was, a thinner four pointed pinwheel with longer arms began to take shape, as a red circle formed around it and three tomoe began to swirl around the outside of it all.

In a disorienting rush of vision, Naruto realized he was seeing everything roughly twenty meters from himself in three hundred and sixty degree vision. He could also see through anything blocking his line of sight if he focused. Shaking his head, and setting his world spinning, Naruto realized he had been pulsing his chakra quite intensely. Correctly guessing that stealth was now quite useless, the guards for Mukotsu now more resembled a disturbed nest of ants, and that the shinobi of the Fire Capital would now be en-route to investigate the disturbance. While he could defeat them all, a **Bijuudama** would level the city, such an action would also kill the people he wanted to protect. Acting quickly he created a single **Kage Bunshin** to finish his mission. All together he was a bit disappointed that his clone would be the one to kill the merchant, Naruto had wanted to slay the toad man himself, and made his escape.

Trusting in his chakra enhanced strength, he quickly made his way across the rooftops between himself and the outermost wall, though his heavy weight and the impact from his jumps left a trail of damage behind. Approaching the dividing wall, Naruto gathered his chakra and leapt, easily clearing the wall itself. However, a bolt of lightning natured chakra leapt from a now visible seal, striking him in the back and turning his controlled descent into a far less graceful fall. Rolling with the impact, Naruto gathered another burst of chakra, focused it on his back, and leapt up. Running as quickly as he could, he was less than a blur to any civilians that were unlucky enough to be caught in the backdraft of his passing.

After a full twenty minutes of sprinting, Naruto pulsed his chakra and detected no shinobi. Slowing, Naruto reviewed his surroundings. They were vaguely familiar in the sense that all woods of the same type tend to look similar, but nothing stood out to him. Knowing that he split off of the main road out of the capital at about a sixty five degree angle, Naruto knew he was many kilometers to the south west of where he had started, but his exact position, particularly in relation to where Kurosuki-san could be, was unknown. Deciding to once again maliciously abuse his greatest advantage, Naruto formed the **Hitsuji** seal and created an army of exactly one thousand clones. Ultimately, the warrior decided that no shinobi had pursued him and that the normal warriors physically could not have pursued him; meaning the red skinned giant was as safe as any aspiring dark lord could be whilst in the middle of the wild. In hostile territory. And completely without support or supplies.

While ten took position in the trees around the original, the rest took off to search for the nukenin and Naruto's absent students while the original knelt down in the leaves and began to meditate. First, he reviewed the memories of the clone he sent to kill the fool that dared threaten what belonged to a Sith. In truth, Naruto had been a bit hasty about his assassination. While he could have leveled the entire city, the fact that he would likely have every single village and country out for his blood and possibly start the fourth world war also made such a choice very, very undesirable. None of that excused testing a new power for the first time in the field.

Focusing, the Sith decided to worry later. It was the work of a few seconds to pull up the relevant information and while Naruto had been unable to take the amount of time he would have desired, the clone had still done the job well. A simple earth chakra enhanced strike to the torso had liquefied the top half of that disgusting merchant. Interestingly enough, he did look remarkably like a toad. The bulbous eyes were almost uncanny. Shuddering, Naruto continued his meditation, assimilating the information from the various clones that popped.

Dropping from a large tree trunk, one of the few that could hold his weight, Naruto began to move towards an open clearing. About twenty meters across with a small hill forming in the middle, the clearing was currently occupied by five people. The tallest, with shoulder length green hair, was Kurosuki Raiga, now wearing a brown and green ensemble with mesh armor underneath. In front of him, Hisakawa Suzume and Ranmaru were currently sparring, rather intensely at that. Off to the side, a shadow clone was overseeing a pair of villagers, about twelve or thirteen years of age, working on low level doton jutsu. What impressed Naruto, however, was the fact that the pair showed no hesitation in their strikes. And they were striking to kill.

Deciding to watch, Naruto took a seat on the ground and leaned up against a tree. The two civilians, Jun and Lee if he remembered correctly, were doing rather well. Considering that their training had only began a few months ago, the accuracy and speed of their jutsu were most impressive, even if they were only mid gennin in level. Raiga taught them well and their chakra reserves had grown quickly, too. If the young Sith permitted himself to show emotion, he would have likely smiled at the thought of just how much potential the average human of his homeworld had. On the other hand, Ranmaru and Suzume had grown by leaps and bounds. Ranmaru's chakra reserves had seen around a fifty percent increase, bringing him to low chunin reserves, and Suzume's had nearly tripled, putting the girl just shy of mid chunin reserves as well. That both of them struck hard, fast, and to incapacitate or kill their comrade also gave evidence to support his theory.

Honestly, what else could he have expected? The villagers had been constantly exposed to the walking Dark Side nexus that was his connection to the Force. It would be far more surprising if they had not changed. Still, even if he was glad they were competent, it would be arrogant to assume that the villagers would be effective. After all, the easiest hurdle for raw shinobi was being willing to kill others. Now, they would have to fight for every inch of growth. Of course, Naruto was more than willing to speed that process. ARMR had been very, very thorough in his investigations into how the chakra network developed after all.

As Suzume exploited superior flexibility and speed while Ranmaru leveraged his slight edge in strength and his dojutsu, Naruto considered what the machine had revealed to him. Chakra, in short, was a seemingly physical manifestation of the Dark Side's philosophy. Individual struggle breeds strength, strength permits survival, survival permits growth, and so on. And while there were a few other theories revealed to him, they were still that. However, the most important fact was that with **Dark Transference** he could combat the degradation of his people from advanced age. Never mind that their training sessions would be even more intense than normal as well. In fact, sharing the **Kage Bunshin** with them might have been a bit too much. No matter what though, he had advantages, and like any good Sith Naruto would exploit them for all they were worth.

Standing up, Naruto made his way over to his, hopefully, future pupils and, with combat boots crushing several leaves underfoot. "Kurosuki-san, Ranmaru-san, Suzume-san, Lee-san, Jun-san, it is time to prepare to leave this place."

As one, the four shinobi-in-training turned to look at the new comer. Kurosuki simply inclined his head, more concerned with the two jutsu that just went wildly off target. "Jun, Lee, you'll be doing laps for that."

Paling noticeably, the two teenagers bowed deeply and quickly gave a "hai, sensei" while both Suzume and Ranmaru tried to stifle chuckles. Naruto allowed his eyes to soften slightly, just enough to soften the blow and keep the two from being too embarrassed. Revan and Lady Surik had both been quite clear on just how useful small kindnesses could be in earning and solidifying loyalty. Never mind that he had already given these young men purpose. Though, truthfully, saving and aiding the villagers had been a bit more selfish than most probably realized.

The entire situation had rankled him. Reminding him far, far too much of his own mistreatment to permit himself to simply standby or butcher them as well. It also seemed that his small mercies, for they truly were not that great of a cost to him, had gained him a great wealth of potential soldiers. Never mind that he now had a group to assist him in fortifying Uzu.

Turning his attention to the former jounin, Naruto spoke in a soft, but deep, tone, "I have spoken with Eiji-san and he has informed me of the situation here. As it is no longer tenable to receive aid from the daimyo, I will escort you to my ancestral homeland. Any questions?"

Suzume, bouncing on her feet, spoke first, "Yeah! Sensei, what's up with your kit? Also, why have you grown so much taller? Oh, also, are there any more Uzumaki we're going to pick up along the way?"

Allowing himself a small smile, the girl did amuse him and he nearly shuddered in horror at the idea of becoming the kind of Sith that spent all his time brooding or plotting, Naruto responded, "In opposite order of asking: No, I know of no other Uzumaki alive. Though if we do encounter any, I will likely extend an offer to join up with us. I will likely continue growing for around another three years. And this is all from a hidden base, beneath Konoha, built nearly five millennia ago by an ancient scientist and noble."

At that pronouncement all five showed faces of open shock. Recovering first, Jun managed to continue questioning the surprisingly open Sith, "Um...Uzumaki-dono, should you be telling us this? I mean, it _does_ sound pretty incredible, not that I'm calling you a liar!" Now openly blushing at the thought that he may have accused of a kami of being a liar, especially one who had done so much for him and his, Jun simply shut his mouth and stared at the ground.

Quirking an eyebrow, and letting his amusement plainly color his voice, the aforementioned Sith responded, "You would not happen to have enough shaped explosives to blast through a triple thick, battleship rated, containment door, would you?" Quickly shaking his head, and wondering exactly what his savior was talking about, Jun did his best to answer as clearly as his embarrassment would allow. "As it seems that you, quite clearly, lack such an item, then it is quite impossible for you to enter any of the important areas aside from a number of damaged construction tunnels. So, you, and this goes for all of us, and I are quite safe sharing this little secret."

True, but now he was being a bit more, stereotypically, Sith like. This was a piece of information that could do absolutely no damage to him if it got out, the combat droids would probably be able to wipe out anyone short of an S-rank shinobi with impunity, but no one would actually believe that there was such a thing hidden inside a major shinobi village. Ancestors, this group was certainly cautious and they had seen some of what he could do. Still, it would make them better shinobi in the future and this little secret would bind his four best hopefuls to him just a bit more tightly.

Returning to seriousness, Naruto decided he would have time to speak to Suzume later, she was a friend, allowed his voice to return to its full, commanding tone, and issued his orders, "Suzume-san, Jun-san, Lee-san, you three are to return to Eiji-san and the villagers. You are to then instruct him that once the villagers are gathered they are to leave by the southern most exit and that I, Ranmaru-san, and Kurosuki-san will be awaiting them seven kilometers down the road. He is to do his best to avoid suspicion, but haste is more important in this regard, and I will personally deal with any followers should it become necessary. Do you understand your instructions?"

A simultaneously shout of "Hai, Uzumaki-Dono!" split the air and the three were off to the tree tops. Tree climbing had been one of the things Naruto insisted they master during his absence, seeing how important of a basic mobility skill it was. Never mind that it meant he could use them to help protect those too old or young to do so, especially considering he was already too heavy to use most tree limbs and some tree trunks.

Kurosuki and Ranmaru, both used to needing to move quickly and quietly, simply nodded at Naruto, took the trees on either side of him, and followed along as best they could as he ran through the underbrush.

 **47 BBY Month 4 (~3 weeks later)**

Stretching a bit, Naruto was quite glad that he and his party were nearing Nami no Kuni. Not that he was upset about the way things had gone in Hi no Kuni, but their successful flight meant that, Raiga, he supposed the man could be considered a friend at this point, had been able to freely show and begin to teach him a great number of ninja skills. The most important ones being the **Kirigakure no Jutsu** , the finer points of shinobi style **Silent Killing Technique (Muon Satsujin Jutsu)** , and largely helped him shape up his general skills. This included informing him that he had, apparently, created a variant **Henge** as they were normally illusory, as opposed to his solid technique.

While grounding in the basics was important, he was still anxious to visit his home. They were the greatest seal masters to have ever existed, after all. Though, there had been a few awkward moments as well.

He had received his first kiss. Ruthlessly suppressing even the slightest hint of a blush, he pondered exactly what had happened. Suzume, quite drunk at the time, had approached him while he had been meditating. And while he had sensed her approach quite clearly, if nothing else he had certainly smelt the alcohol, she had expressed absolutely no hostility. As such, she had been given a clear shot to his lips, and he, detecting no threat, simply did not react.

Of course, what made it worse was his body had...reacted to his drunk friends advances. He had firmly entered into puberty which meant he could look forward to a number of years of heightened emotions and even greater anger than normal. Still, not wanting to hurt her, he purged her system of alcohol, sat her down, and explained in no uncertain terms that, yes, he found her attractive but he was simply not interested. Suzume had been a bit hurt, but ultimately thanked him for his frankness and they spoke for a bit.

Perhaps in a few years he might be a bit more interested, but right now he was too focused on his training to have much time for relationships. So, he dealt with his arousal as he did with all other unnecessary emotions; he crushed it. Thankfully, his adamant refusal to allow things to grow awkward had lead to both Suzume's father and older brother thanking him for being so polite and honest. A more unscrupulous man would have lead her on.

He very distinctly remembered Revan and Surik's teachings on matters of the heart. Love, for better or worse, was the greatest boon and greatest flaw for either a Jedi or a Sith. Both had performed acts and feats beyond that of even the greatest masters or lords in the hopes of saving those they loved and even more had committed atrocities that would turn the stomach of the darkest of lords.

In particular, Surik had spoken of how Atris's, a female Jedi master, infatuation with her had caused the woman to view her presence in the Mandalorian Wars as a rejection of not just the Jedi code but of her personally. This had fed the woman's feelings and twisted into an obsession with a strong desire to punish her. It was bad enough that the woman had gathered a massive number of Sith holocron's and had become twisted into a parody of a Jedi archivist. She had gone so far as to torture and almost murder one of her former handmaidens in her rage. Surik had been forced to defeat her in single combat and it was only at the pleading of Brianna, her former handmaiden, that she was spared.

Revan had countered with is story of Bastila's redemption. He had spoken, at somewhat great length, of how the woman had at first confounded him. Of how she had been rather haughty, that she had also been naive and sure in her allies. Later, he spoke of her misconceptions about her mother, and how things had been healed between them. When he had come to her capture and subsequent turning, he spoke of how it was almost as if he had been rendered greatly ill. It was as if he had food poisoning as his body rejected anything but the simplest of things.

Mostly, Revan had blamed the fact he could feel the torture she was enduring. But it was more than that. He had been content when he had her in his arms. And the knowledge she was in pain terrified him far more than anything else. Still, he pushed forward and after cutting his way through hundreds of Sith, he finally confronted her. In the depths of her hate and rage and pain it had been her love for him that allowed her to stay sane.

And it had been his love for her that allowed him to brush her attacks aside and overcome her with only a minimum of violence. It had, apparently, been a touching moment when they had embraced, albeit surrounded by the smoking corpses of the enemy, and they had swiftly moved to engage and overcome Malak in an almost embarrassing, for Revan, battle. Revan had actually blushed when he told Naruto about how poorly Malak had performed against the two Jedi.

Naruto was far from a fool, he was aware that he had entered puberty, but that did little to calm his thoughts. He felt his mind drifting to Suzume and when he thought of her he found it difficult to view her with detachment, as a tool, or as a friend. Instead, he thought of her skin, what it would feel like to let his hands ghost across it. What her hair smelled like and what her lips would taste like on his. And it terrified him.

If he was a Sith, then he would act on his lust and then forget her. But he knew he would not do that. He was still weak in that he desired companionship. When he was younger, he had a few people, but they were distant. Then, there was Revan and Lady Surik. But both were distant.

He had lived with them, but Lady Surik was a ghost and Revan was an old man, more looking for an apprentice than a son. That's not to say Naruto did not feel parental affection for either, he did, but neither had sought to treat him as a son. And he had not sought them as parents. As such, it was more than a little confusing. Obviously, he did not love Suzume. Care, yes, but in the same way one cares for a friend whom you do not quite know intimately enough to come to love them, yet they are more than mere acquaintances.

Still, he pushed his feelings to the side. Self denial, once practiced enough, comes easy. And he had much practice denying himself many things. A woman's touch would merely be one more thing in a very long list.

Though he was very glad that his student had simply redoubled her efforts to train. Right now, she was about the level of a competent chunin along with Ranmaru. Jun and Lee were talented and experienced gennin at best, but all four were still growing. That they could all create at least two **Kage Bunshin** now spoke volumes of their potential. Especially since he and Raiga had both given each student personal instruction via their own clones. Ultimately, he expected around forty competent shinobi and another hundred warriors with access to chakra besides that. It was far from bad for, what would be, a completely fresh nation with no outside support.

However, he imagined that would be a very temporary situation. As it stood, he himself had gotten a bit of a reputation amongst the bandits and nukenin along with an entry in a bingo book, helpfully supplied by the corpse of a rogue fire shinobi, thanks to his course, everything was simply a question mark with a warning to approach with extreme caution, but any competent shinobi would already do that. When you considered that he would be resurrecting Uzu, a nation it took three great villages to break, then he would either have declarations of war or gifts of peace on his doorstep within a week. And when he factored in his own presence and his warriors potential, he was quite confident he would prove far, _far_ too costly to invade.

It didn't hurt that blooding his students had confirmed his suspicions that his aura was affecting them, fresh warriors were never that vicious unless they were mentally unstable, and given him quite a bit of information to work with as time passed. Since they seemed to be taking on a great deal of savagery, it would be far from unusual for any challenges to be dissuaded far before they got to him.

All together, he was...content with his progress. It helped that in the next few days that he and Raiga would be going to meet another of the former Seven Swordsmen, one Momochi Zabuza. It would be nice to have at least a few competent warriors. And if he was anything like Raiga turned out to be, Naruto would be more than happy to keep him around.

 **A.N. Hey guys, thanks for reading all the way to the end on this one. I hope everything was enjoyable and just so you know, Wave will take at most two other chapters before everything is not only wrapped up, but Naruto is preparing for the reopening of Uzu as a world power. In short, you get a chance to drastically alter a number of side plots! A friend of mine mentioned an interview in which Kishimoto apparently mentioned all redheads in the Naruto-verse are related to the Uzumaki. This means you guys get to tell me which ones you want in. I'll accept votes in the form of either PMs or Reviews, whichever you prefer. That being said, at least one full blooded female Uzumaki (either Tayuya or Karin) will be required, however both are possible ins, and no this isn't for a harem, surprisingly enough. Though it will have to do with the endgame I have in mind for a reborn Uzumaki clan and neither this Naruto nor I am willing to wait for him to bring it back the normal way.**

 **P.S. I hate that last section, but I really need to stress that this Naruto is entering puberty, he'll start finding women attractive, and he's going to be a feudal lord. So, to ignore it is a disservice, even if I find it awkward to write.**

 **TL;DR: Damn my inexperience.**


	5. Cause There Was Already a Lot of Pride

**A.N. Hey guys, been a minute. Just wanted to stop in and let you guys know I'm looking forward to all of you guys reading my newest chapter. I also want to let you know about Naruto's frankly ridiculous height a bit. A normal warrior caste pureblood Sith** _ **averaged**_ **3 meters. They were half again as tall as a human. They were also twice or more as broad and, to my understanding, about around twice as massive as well. In short, they were FREAKING HUGE. He clocks in at a staggering 3.27 meters tall (his sword is over 12 feet long including the handle) in my notes once he's done growing. In short, he's a bit more than ten feet tall. With that in mind, he's not as proportionally broad as normal warrior caste Sith, only about twice as broad as a normal human. This means he's actually something of a beanpole for his kind. Ain't alien biology great? Anyways, I'd love it if you'd leave a few detailed criticisms or comments. For me, I don't really care about quantity of reviews, but rather their quality. Even if you just want to scream at me for being a faggot, I can use that too.**

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

" **Demon speech and techniques** "

Disclaimer: I own neither Starwars nor Naruto.

 **47 BBY Month 4**

Naruto allowed himself a small smile, more a relaxing of the corners of his mouth, as he watched the bandits before him shift uneasily. Part of it, obviously, was the fact that he himself, garbed in blacks and greys, not to mention clearly inhuman, stood head, shoulders, and chest over even the tallest human there. However, the greatest contributor to his spectacle were the clearly dangerous shinobi, everyone knew who the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū were, and the nearly uniformly armed and armored warriors behind them.

While the various bandit groups had primarily been a means of supplementing the food stores of his villagers, Naruto was not one to waste resources, especially when the non shinobi warriors were at a significant disadvantage without good steel. Of course, if you looked closely you could see that the men behind him wore bits and pieces from no less than forty different groups, but the fact that all wore full sets of proper armor while carrying a spear and sword tended to override that fact.

In truth, simply arriving at the head of such a force would be enough to convince the hired thugs, numbering no more than three hundred, to break and run. Gato, on the other, seemed to almost be incensed that someone had challenged him. Honestly, that was rather easily observable from the way the impressively short man before him was purpling. Turning his head back to the midget, Naruto felt a small moment of shame as he realized he had simply been tuning what seemed to be a very impressive rant out for the last five minutes.

"...AND WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO INVADE **MY** FUCKING VILLAGE YOU MUTANT FREAK!? YOU THINK I'M GOING TO JUST LET YOU WALK OVER ME? TAKE WHAT I'VE EARNED? I'LL FUCKING HANG YOU BY YOUR ENTRAILS 'GHRRKTGHFFFFF'"

Growing tired of the short man's blustering, Naruto simply launched himself forward in a burst of pure speed, quite beyond the ability of anyone other than Raiga and Zabuza to track, and closed his clawed hand over Gato's rather soft throat. For a moment he debated simply murdering the man horrifically, but reconsidered when he thought of his future plans. Nami no Kuni _was_ rather strategically placed and a very short distance from Uzu itself. Deciding that this place would, at worst, make a good staging area, Naruto prepared to make an example.

"...You annoy me, little man. Your warriors are weak, _you_ are weak. I am tired. But first, I plan to punish you for your arrogance." Gathering a burst of Force energy, Naruto burned through Gato's meager chakra reserves and ravaged the man's mind.

In moments he had gleaned every secret, every hidden stash, and the knowledge of every coin Gato had ever held. That the man's mind was ruined beyond any hope of repair, burned out in a quite intimidating, and extremely painful for the petty tyrant, flash of light, was a pleasant side effect. Casually throwing the corpse off to the side, not quite realizing the body was chucked more than a kilometer away, Naruto strode up to the now unemployed thugs and gave them a rather simple choice.

"Leave and _I_ swear I shall not kill you. Stay and I shall break you all." The thugs did not hesitate, they broke and ran. Many throwing down their weapons in an attempt to flee faster. Naruto himself simply waited a few minutes and issued a rather simple order. "Kurosuki-san, Momochi-san take twenty men each, kill them all." There was no need for the two to confirm the order, they simply turned about, chose their men, and began the hunt.

"Suzume, Ranmaru, Haku, take the rest of the men, gather the abandoned weapons and armor, then bring the rest of the non combatants up and strike camp just outside of the village. Do not fully unpack, we may yet have a roof over our heads tonight."

A simple "Hai, Uzumaki-dono/Sensei" was given in response to this order, though the young shinobi were no slower to comply. After about fifteen minutes of standing in the middle of the main path through this section of Nami, the locals finally became curious enough to actually approach their latest conqueror. Of course, acting like that would just incite the locals to fight back, or seek outside help, much better to play to their desire for a hero.

An older man of roughly average height and with a large beer gut stepped forward first, "Um...well...thanks for killing the bastard, I guess?"

Acknowledging the thanks, Naruto inclined his head, "He was a threat to my people as well. And, it was the right thing to do."

Somewhat startled at the soft, if rather deep, voice coming from the giant, the villager stepped a bit closer and spoke again, "So, um, is there anything you want?"

"Yes, there is. One of my compatriots had a condition for joining me and I need a place for my people to stay."

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what was the condition?"

"I will travel with him to Kirigakure, slay Yagura the Tyrant, and halt the genocide of the bloodline users."

Shocked at the clear and concise response, the villager thought for a few moments. Deciding to go out on a limb, even if the shinobi was a bit scary, he walked the last few meters until he was in a proper conversational range, "Well, seeing how you just killed Gato and your men are out taking care of the last of his, I figure, if we can help you, we will. Oh, my name is Tazuna by the way!"

Looking down at the outstretched hand, Naruto, taking great care not to crush it, shook it with his much larger hand. "I thank you Tazuna-san. My request is simple, I wish for you to house my people while I fulfill my previous agreement. Of course, my people will return everything Gato stole from you either way."

What followed was several minutes of silence. Tazuna clearly deep in thought, Naruto stood mildly relaxing. Turning to look Naruto in the eye as best as he could, Tazuna clearly wore his confusion on his face, "You're for real, aren't you? I mean, Gato has been here for three years. Our own daimyo caved after one", Tazuna turns and spits as if the word left a bad taste in his mouth, "The others didn't seem to care either. I know letters reached the lord of Fire and the kage of Kirigakure. I know that because those villagers came back."

It was this point that Suzume and Ranmaru had returned with their men and the other villagers had began to come closer.

"And still, none of those fucking bastards did one FUCKING thing! Women and children were raped and enslaved, men tortured and killed! My...my own son in law. He was publically executed because he stopped a pair of thugs from raping a seven year old girl." Tazuna dropped to his knees, tearing his threadbare clothes as they become dirtied from the earth and mud he collapsed into.

As Naruto stood there, looking upon a broken old man, he felt a strange mixture of pity and disgust well up in him. Half of him felt that the man in front of him was pathetic for showing such weakness to a complete stranger, and possible invader. While the other half wanted to tell the man that everything was going to be ok. That he would stand for his people. Defend them against all who would harm them. Doing as he had been trained, Naruto drowned out all distractions. He felt Raiga and Zabuza returning with the rest of his men so everyone would hear or see what would happen next. Turning his face up to Naruto once again, with tears streaming down his grime smeared face, Tazuna asked a single question. "So, why?"

Allowing a single moment of hesitation to slip into his body language, Naruto pulled the hood of his travelling cloak back. Several of the villagers stepped back in fear at seeing the black and red mask. Moving slowly, he reached up and unlocked the clasps on his mask. More stepped back and even Tazuna's eyes grew wide at what hid there. Where even a few months before his father's face had lain, still handsome enough to catch the eye of many women in spite of his differences, now lay something far too sharp and far too heavy set to be human. While he did not possess the simian features of baseline Sith, Naruto had moved farther away from human normal. With the black lines that marked his whiskers thicker than ever and his face tendrils now reaching to the bottom of his chin, he seemed near deformed. The broad planes and rough features made him seem like a barbarian at best and an oni at worst, all of which was magnified by the shifting black and red pattern of his sharingan, glowing proudly in both of his eyes.

Reaching out a hand to the kneeling man before him, Naruto answered him, "Because I could." Helping the wide eyed man to his feet, the young Sith continued, knowing that with every word he bound these people closer and closer to him. So turning to speak to everyone gathered there, he spoke.

"My name is Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto. My mother was Uzumaki Kushina, the Aka no Shi, and the last survivor of the main family of the Uzumaki. My father was Namikaze Minato, the Kiroi Senko, and yondaime hokage of Konohagakure. For most of my life I was the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko, with all that entails. I was spat on, beaten, and scorned by nearly the whole of the village my parents gave their lives for and I was made a sacrifice to protect. I did what I did because I was here and I know what it is like to be powerless." Naruto allowed a gentle smile to form on his face. "Still, my work is far from done. Suzume, Ranmaru."

"Hai!"

"Bring half the men, we need to sack Gato's mansion."

"Hai, Uzumaki-dono."

"Zabuza, Raiga, you two stay here and watch over the village. Share our food and medical supplies. We will bring back everything Gato has. Expect us in a few hours."

While Zabuza stood silent, thinking over what he had heard, Raiga responded, "Understood. We'll be waiting on you."

"Haku, deal with the wounded and ill amongst both groups."

Receiving a nod from a still thinking Zabuza, Haku responded with a soft "Hai".

"Tazuna, bring a few of your people. I want you to know you can trust me. You have five minutes. After that, we have a manor to sack."

Nodding at his instructions, Tazuna moved off and began to issue instructions of his own.

 **Thirty Minutes Later**

After his short walk, filled with more than a few glances from Suzume, Naruto stood outside the gates of Gato's mansion. It was an obscene and gaudy thing. Intended to be more of a indulgence into the worst kind of opulence and decadence as opposed to any kind of functional hub of administration. And the worst thing was that Gato had even skimped on properly building much of the compound itself.

For example, he had what looked like large gold knockers on the main gate. In truth, they were lead that had been covered with pyrite with an _extremely_ small admixture of actual gold. Simply put, they looked real enough to fool anything but a close inspection or a true master. And his entire manor was like this.

The walls were sloppily made in any place that wasn't visible to guests, the defenses were almost entirely for show, and the internal gates were made from incredibly low quality iron. That the man was using iron on an island surrounded by salt water was one issue. That Gato had known how poorly his "defenses" had been made and had been content with them was another.

What made it worse was the sheer paranoia the man had exhibited when it came to his money! If Naruto spent the next two decades hunting Gato's liquid assets he would have found, maybe, half of it. Thankfully, he was as greedy as he was corrupt and had moved the entirety of his hard assets to his manor. In a vault with walls two meters thick. Reinforced with the best seals Gato could buy. And booby trapped so thoroughly the explosives inside of the vault could reasonably level half of Nami. Of course, none of that would avail him now, what with Naruto quite literally possessing every secret the fat midget had once held.

That being said, the reason for him lasting this long was actually pretty simple. He, along with a small group of like minded individuals, controlled more than half of all trade in the elemental nations. In fact, they had been working together to concentrate even more power in their own hands and seizing Nami was intended to be a first step. From there, they would have strangled trade from a number of small rivals by undercutting their prices, bought them out, and moved on to larger and larger prey. They were so wealthy in fact, that the daimyo's of no less than fourteen nations took bribes in exchange for agreeing not to interfere with their operations. Had Naruto not intervened, there little conglomerate would have likely bought their way into a stranglehold on the regional economy and would have been able to field enough men to rival even major shinobi villages in power. Given none of those villages butchered them like pigs beforehand.

Of course, they had not gotten as far as they had by being foolish or shortsighted. So they had contracted a shinobi mercenary group known as Akatsuki to defend them and their interests. And while Gato had been used as a disposable patsy, none of them actually expected him to live for very long past his takeover, by the rest of the group, Naruto would need to be wary of an entire group of S rank nukenin coming after him. If for no other reason than not wanting to level his new island in the inevitable crossfire between whoever the Akatsuki sent to kill him. Still, it was something to look forward to.

For the second time on the same day, Naruto found himself mildly embarrassed. It seemed he had been so deep in thought he had failed to notice that he and his company were standing in front of Gato's manor and that what remained of his guards were running about, attempting to fortify their location.

"Jun, Lee, Suzume, Ranmaru, deal with the guards on the wall. Show me how far you have come!" With his order the demeanor of the four best shinobi under his command shifted from a combination of mild wariness and interest into a sense of barely restrained blood lust.

As the "battle" began the four launched themselves straight towards the wall before them, opening with a volley of kunai. While they threw several knives each only a handful struck vital spots, though the defenders were quite effectively suppressed. Reaching the base of the curtain wall all four swiftly ran up the sheer face of the building before them, throwing the occasional kunai at any thugs that presented their heads for targets.

Upon reaching the top Ranmaru fired off a sizeable water bullet, punching through a man's chest, while Suzume, Jun, and Lee contented themselves by going to work with their knives. In less than a minute the only surviving defenders were hidden within the manor itself and would need to be rooted out. Of course, no one but Naruto was aware of this so when he kicked the main gate of its hinges the rest of those present were quite surprised. It is of course not even worth mentioning that he most certainly did not have a smirk on his face. And he unquestionably did not chuckle at seeing his cute little students jump a literal meter into the air.

Raising a single brow Naruto simply pointed to the man Ranmaru had killed, now hanging by an ankle while his intestines spilled out a hole in his chest, and stated, "Excellent shot, your power was perfect Ranmaru-kun." Taking a moment to note that a number of the men had had their genitals savaged Naruto looked at Suzume and asked a silent question.

Standing firm, Suzume met Naruto's eye and answered him quite vocally, "I saw what had been done to some of the women in Nami. They deserved it."

Nodding, Naruto simply walked towards the manor proper, ignoring the green-hued villagers who had stopped to relieve the contents of their stomachs. Who was he to question Suzume on something like this. Unlike most women, she travelled with her father through some of the worst parts of the Elemental Countries. She would have seen sex slaves and worse. It also went without saying that had she ever been taken, she would be considered lucky to be killed before being violated herself.

Striding up to the entryway Naruto kicked the set of double doors off their hinges as well. He definitely enjoyed doing that. Still, there was work to do. "Suzume, there are four hostiles in a room on the top floor in the eastern most section of the building. Take a squad and neutralize them. Tazuna, choose two people and send five warriors with them to locate the prisoners. They should be in the kitchens. Those are to the west and along the far wall. The rest of you, with me."

"Hai, uzumaki-dono!"

With the short answering cry the teams moved out to deal with their objectives. Naruto himself moving to secure the vault itself.

After another thirty minutes he was ready to leave. The locals had been rescued, the remaining hostiles killed, and the vault had been secured. Of course, by secured he meant he had ripped it from the earth, and prepared it to be levitated back to the village alongside all of the actual valuables and foodstuffs they had retrieved, in the process answering Tazuna's unasked question of how he had brought so many people to Nami without a fleet of ships.

Kneeling down, Naruto concentrated, reaching out with The Force and focusing on the vault. Easy enough thanks to the interference of the seals. Twisting, pushing, pulling, and blasting the earth and rock out of the way, he ripped the entire structure up and out into the free air. Holding it with his mind, Naruto reached out with The Force once again and picked up a number of pallets and heavy pieces of cargo and began to levitate back towards the village. And, again, he was most certainly not wearing an improbably smug smirk as he walked away.

 **Three Days Later**

Standing in the prow of a small ship, liberated from Gato's former merchant fleet, Naruto mused on all he had accomplished. Nami no Kuni, betrayed by their daimyo, was desperate for a protector, and Naruto just so happened to be a prince. When Tazuna and Eiji got together, after recovering from an impressively nasty hangover, they both agreed that Naruto was clearly inhuman, a noble, and therefore was eligible to be both enshrined as a kami and declared feudal lord of Nami. That there was nearly universal support for such a position amongst both groups simply moved things forward all the more quickly. Though, perhaps, the sheer amount of food and alcohol that had been imbibed by the villagers had contributed to a rather hasty process for such a significant decision.

Unfortunately there had been some resistance from the citizens of Nami. They were understandably wary of another tyrant coming in and abusing them when they had just slipped Gato's yoke. It had ended up being a rather simple thing to win them over. As their numbers were made up by those that had suffered the worst under Gato's reign, Naruto healing the wounds of each and every citizen of Nami had both drained him to dangerous levels and made him into a hero in the eyes of even the most cynical and bitter of his opponents.

It had been the work of two days to organize a quick vote and declaration of his new position. Most of that had been in the making of a massive feast and the organizing of a new force to defend Nami in his absence. Ichirou and Masahiro had organized the citizens of Nami into training groups while Eiji, Satoru, and Tazuna had set to work planning out the rationing of their supplies and organizing the men and women into work teams to begin refurbishing the dilapidated and damaged buildings.

His plans were moving forward swiftly and while some friction had occurred between the two groups of villagers, things were already improving when he left. Yes, aside from the small issue that was the incredibly troubled and unsure Momochi Zabuza approaching him from behind. A few things piqued his interest. One, Momochi was clearly conflicted, likely over whether he'd be inviting one tyrant into his home to kill another. Two, Naruto realized he literally could not soothe the man's fears. Aside from them all being justified in principle if not scale, he would only seize Kiri if he absolutely _must_ as he _needed_ Uzu and another village would only detract from his focus on learning all of his clan's **fuinjutsu**. Especially since he could name his price once he slew Yagura and the new Mizukage understood their place. He also held no small amount of animosity towards the village itself for participating in the extermination of his clan. Three, he would gain far more from an "alliance" than he would from open conquest. Kiri was waging a civil war and those always left a country vulnerable. Even if he lacked the exact intelligence of each of the other villages necessary to calculate exact behavioral patterns, there was little doubt they were doing all they could to exacerbate the situation. Quietly, of course. There was no need to turn their subtle support into open warfare. Yet.

In the end, the Swordsman was right in fearing for his country and nothing Naruto could do would dissuade the man. Still, he was too valuable to kill outright, as his skills, and those of his servant, were incredibly useful for building a future army. So it was with an incredibly sadistic smile, unseen beneath his mask, that Naruto turned and faced the now approaching shinobi. Because the first thing a Sith learns is that death is just the beginning

Momochi Zabuza prepared himself to confront the...boy? Yes. The _boy_ he had turned towards Kirigakure. His claims had been absurd at best, delusional at the worst. Either way, having another jinchuuriki, especially one that seemed stronger that Yagura, in Kiri would most likely be the rebellion's undoing. All because he had no _actual_ guarantee that this self proclaimed Uzumaki would honor his word. In an agreement with a village that had helped butcher his kin. And what was worse is that Zabuza had seen him use word games to weaken his enemies and then sway a large number of civilians to his side with nothing more than an average speech and a few grand gestures.

This needed to be done. And it would go differently than their first fight had. Stopping for a moment, Zabuza remembered how brutally he and Haku had been tossed around. Naruto's mastery of kenjutsu was comparable if not superior to Kisame's, the blue skinned bastard. Still, that was all the giant had shown. Even when dozens of water clones had thrown themselves forward, all Naruto had used was giant sword. And right now, that blade was nowhere to be seen. Zabuza continued walking, coming to his final set of stairs, and mused on how it seemed that oni might be returning to the impure world. Shrugging, he decided it didn't matter. It was why he had kept the Oni Kyodai in reserve. They should have been able to circumvent that red skinned bastard's ridiculous sensory abilities so long as the used their **Hiding in Water Technique**. Considering that the move could hide from Ao's byakugan, it made sense that it could hide from just about anything an _eleven year old_ could know.

Walking onto the deck of the ship they had bothered, he confirmed the marked barrels holding the brothers were in position, Zabuza let the weight of the Kubikiribocho steel his resolve for what he was about to do. As he turned to look at the _boy_ , standing on the prow of the borrowed ship, he noticed that he was being watched from behind the welp's mask. A small tremor slipped through him. Once more steeling his resolve, Momochi Zabuza stepped forward.

"Naruto-san."

Naruto tilted his head forward in acknowledgement.

"I have a number of questions. And I want answers." Tensing up incase the boy decided to strike first, Zabuza waited to see if he would be interrupted. After a few seconds without change, he continued. "To begin with, I need to know exactly what you plan on doing once you get to Kiri. And I _need_ to know when you plan on leaving"

Tilting his head to the side, Naruto responded, "You and I will make contact with the leader of the rebellion, you will convince them to accept us, and then we will move to neutralize Yagura at the earliest possible convenience. Assuming you can honor your end of our little bargain and I receive all of Kiri's intel on possible surviving Uzumaki, I shall leave without incident. Assuming everyone else behaves, of course."

"Alright then. You claim to be a former jinchuuriki and the son of the fourth Hokage. How are either possible. Especially considering your current appearance?"

Zabuza tensed as the man before him gave a small chuckle and responded with a question, "You would expect the assimilation of all the chakra of a bijuu to be a rather dramatic event, correct? Because if you did, you would be right."

Eyes widening, Zabuza had to take a moment and marvel at the sheer arrogance of the brat standing before him. The child's arrogance was so astounding that it actually took him a moment to notice the small crew of smugglers had withdrawn to the back of the boat, preparing for the violence that Zabuza was preparing to unleash.

"So, Uzumaki, you _claim_ to be only eleven years old. You _claim_ to have slain a _bijuu_. You _claim_ you to be the only child of the fourth hokage and you claim to have no other intentions towards Kirigakure when I just saw you take over a gods damned country!"

Zabuza prepared himself to execute his plan. He tensed himself and uttered a phrase that would alert Gozu and Meizu to strike, "This conversation is over." As Zabuza began to force chakra into his limbs, two wooden barrels exploded into blades of water with large, spiked chains lashing out towards both sides of Naruto, aiming to bind and pierce him.

Momochi Zabuza first realized when something was going terribly, terribly wrong when instead of moving, a pair chains left from Naruto's back, binding both Meizu's and Gozu's attacks. Eyes widening as the water blades dispersed harmlessly on the chains, Zabuza dashed forward, hoping to occupy the giant before him long enough to permit his underlings to withdraw. Coming in with a heavy rising slash, he aimed to bisect the giant before him, even if Zabuza expected the boy to block. As the strike came within centimeters of striking, a new chain erupted from Naruto's flesh, intercepting and twisting around Kubikiribocho.

Assuming he survived the fight he was in, what happened next would forever be burnt into his memory. He watched in seeming slow motion as the chain binding his weapons tightened, crushing it at the thinnest part just above the hilt. Even as his beloved weapon broke, he could only stare in horror as both Gozu and Meizu lost their gauntleted arms as the chains coming from their enemy's body reached their hands moments before the releases in their own chains activated. In that very second as the armored limbs were bound in glowing, that blue links broke and twisted them limbs with their inexorable pressure. It was with a macabre sense of interest that he watched each and every link shred through the armored limbs, impressing their awful will upon the weak flesh beneath. As he watched, he knew that these chains would mean instant death should they entrap him. In an attempt to gain as much ground as possible Zabuza directed all the chakra he could to his legs, launching himself many meters away from the ship even as the planking were previously stood shattered into hundreds of splinters.

Continuing to move, Zabuza leapt onto the surface of the water surrounding the vessel and began to run as quickly as he could, knowing he'd only have one chance to succeed in his plan. As he came to a stop Meizu and Gozu hit the water next to him, leaning on each other for support. Taking in their wounds, he noticed the dripping blood and splintered, twisted bone fragments sticking out of their forearms. With a grimace, he realized his support was crippled.

Breathing heavily, Gozu began to speak, "Hey boss *pant* I think we may have fucked up a bit *pant* *pant*. Not that losing my arm doesn't hurt like a bitch *pant* but I really hope you have a plan to make our *pant* *pant* coming deaths worth it."

Grimacing, Zabuza responded, "Yeah. I have one. But you're probably gonna hate me."

With a snort Meizu snarked back, "Too late for that. You already got us up shit creek and I'm glad we didn't bring a paddle or that red skinned fucker would be sodomizing us with it."

"Well, I'm pretty sure we have a shot to bring him down. But I doubt we'll be walking away from it."

With a pained grunt, Gozu shifted his hold on his brother, "Well. I guess we probably should have just tried to kill Yagura ourselves. Still, it was an honor, boss." Raising his stub up, Gozu visibly steels himself for what's about come next. Zabuza, with a sharp nod, lets the blood from his comrade's wound touch the fragment of Kubikiribocho in his hand. After a moment the blade began to slowly regenerate and the pair turned to look at Meizu. After a moment Gozu elbowed his brother and Meizu, with an eye roll, repeated the process. Grabbing a pair of chakra pills, he tossed one to each of the brothers before swallowing two himself.

As he was putting his remaining pills away, Zabuza realized that he could hear a small splashing noise, indicating that the small waves in the ocean were breaking against something. Standing twenty or so meters away he saw that his target had arrived. Knowing that he had only one more shot, Zabuza issued his final order, "Follow my lead", and launched himself backwards, forming the **Ushi** hand seal and calling out " **Kirigakure no Jutsu!** ". From his previous...skirmish with Naruto, he was aware his opponent had doujutsu of some kind. And while he did not believe the mist would completely occlude Naruto's eyes, it should reduce the effective range by a noticeable margin.

Sighing with relief as his comrades raised their own mists, Zabuza quickly unleashed a wave of **Mizu Bunshin** , aiming to slow his target down for a moment. Unfortunately for him, the red skinned giant he doing his level best to kill had decided not to cooperate. Instead, the near four meter bulk was rampaging towards him, throwing up large waves in his path. Gritting his teeth, Zabuza tossed his sword up into the air and began running through two, simultaneous sets of one handed seals. Blurring through the movements, time itself slowed to a crawl as his enemy came ever closer.

Once Naruto reached the halfway point, and Zabuza was only a third of the way through his seals, Gozu and Meizu launched themselves from beneath the surface of the water, disrupting the mists around them, and unleashed volleys of kunai with their remaining arm. Landing on the balls of their feet, both shinobi launched themselves forward, kunai held firmly in hand, and struck at Naruto from sides.

It had been a perfect maneuver, both brothers in perfectly synchronized in their movements. Each foot hitting the water at the same time as the other, eyes never wavering, and muscles tense enough to strike as soon as they were in range. And it was all for naught. The moment the brothers came within ten paces, Naruto's chains struck.

Piercing through the chest of both brothers, the dark blue chains began to use the bodies as blunt instruments and brutally crushed any **Mizu Bunshin** that came in range. Discarding his macabre bludgeons once he had finished the first wave of clones, Naruto continued rampaging towards his enemy, never noticing the feral glint of victory that now filled Zabuza's eyes.

Knowing that if he was to win, now was the moment to strike, Zabuza finished the final signs in both hands. While a pair of water dragons, of truly titanic size, rose up and charged Naruto with a soundless roar Zabuza allowed his thoughts to drift for a single second.

'My ultimate technique, something I developed to kill Yagura himself, reduced to being thrown at a child. Still, the pain of learning the one handed seals from Haku was more than worth it if it lets me stop this tyrant here and now.' As the chains that had slain Gozu and Meizu moved to intercept the dragons, Zabuza cocked his eyes up and saw that Kubikiribocho was within reach. Reaching up and catching it with both hands. 'The blades finally regenerated. Gozu, Meizu, your sacrifices will not be in vain...Haku, I hope you can forgive me for abandoning you' Knowing that he had already pushed his body to a dangerous extent by using as much chakra as he had, Zabuza prepared himself for a final attack, having steeled himself to do what had to be done for the sake of Kiri. The one move he _knew_ would overwhelm his enemy's defense. That he also knew would take more from him than he could give.

With a roar, he dumped the last of his chakra into his faithful sword, his Kubikiribocho. In that moment his senses exploded outwards, touching every drop of blood that once filled both Gozu and Meizu. He _demanded_ control of it all. He _forced_ the blood to obey his will. And it leapt at the chance. Dozens of large, red spears formed from the water. Each one possessing a sharpened and hardened point strong enough to punch through steel. And they leapt forwards at his enemy.

As Zabuza stood there, panting in exhaustion, darkness closing in around the edges of his sight, he couldn't help but give one last smile at how the spears had impaled Naruto in a dozen places. When the impaled Naruto burst into smoke and the jutsu dispersed, Zabuza's smile of victory turned into the horror stricken face of a man who had given everything and not even come close with his dying breath. Once the last wisps of smoke dispersed, Zabuza's knees gave out and darkness filled his vision, his last thoughts being a prayer of mercy for Haku's sake.

'In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.' Pacing his breath, Naruto allowed his chakra reach out and touch the energies flowing around him. At first, all he made contact with was his Dark Side energies. They were as a veil, dulling his senses, and obfuscating the energies of the world around him. Still, the power was addicting. Even the smallest caress sent shudders of pleasure down his spine, the smallest touch would see it whispering is his ear as a lover would, promising him everything he desired, so long as he just gave in to it. And giving in would be _so very easy_ -' **NO!** I must be strong. I must keep pushing. The promises are lies. Slavery is all that comes from submission.' Firming his will, he pushed forward, allowing his chakra to move beyond the haze of dark whispers, and ignoring the taste of rot the filled his mouth with his escape.

And as his chakra slipped free, the world around him brightened. Every sense became sharper, every thought clearer, every breath of air just a bit fresher. Reaching out with his newfound senses, he touched upon all the chakras around him. Everything from the smallest bird in the air to the very trees so many kilometers away from him and every living thing in the ocean around him. Even with all of these connections touching his very soul, more and more came.

As the distance from which the energies came increased, their messages became less and less clear, the feelings muddling together into a sense of vitality, of life itself filling the very world around him. However, as he knelt on the prow of his ship, a feeling of something twisted found him. A touch of something...unclean. Of things that were done away from where all sane beings stood. In the moments that passed, the nameless feeling of _wrongness_ grew, and with it came an overwhelming sense of **HATE**.

Holding on to the first feelings, those of life and nature, as long as he could, Naruto's eyes shot wide as a nearly overwhelming pain shot through him. It felt as if his skin had been covered in naphtha and been set alight. Releasing his hold on the powers of the world he lost his greater awareness but the dulled the pain. Still kneeling, he felt the occasional tremor rock him. After a few shuddering breaths he noticed he was no longer alone.

Naruto turned his head and saw that his would be assassin had awoken. Brushing off as much as he could of his weakness, he stood and turned to face the man. Now bereft of his mask and hood, Naruto permitted the shinobi to look upon him. To see the face of the man who struck down his comrade. Who nearly ripped him limb from limb out of pure bloodlust. The young Sith steadfastly ignored the flutter of amusement he felt as the shinobi before him gripped his sword all the more tightly. To Naruto's amusement, Zabuza seemed quite content to stand there and glare at him. Truthfully, Naruto was more than a little thankful for the moment as it allowed him to center himself in the here and now after his failed attempt at...communing with the world around him.

Still, Zabuza was not there to engage in needless games. Without preamble, he drove straight to the heart of the issue.. "Why did you let me live?"

Spreading his arms in a gesture that would be far more comforting from someone who did not look like a monster, Naruto responded just as plainly. "Because you still have value."

"You don't really think I'll still introduce you to the rebels, do you?"

Letting a massive smile split his face, baring his black teeth, Naruto gave his answer. "Of course you will."

With a sinking feeling, Zabuza began to realize the magnitude of what he may have unleashed upon his homeland. Knowing he was going to regret what came next, he still asked a question that had a thousand answers. None of them pleasant. "...Why?"

His vicious smile growing even wider, the dark energies that fueled him growing just a bit stronger, Naruto answered, "Because I must test myself. Because I desire their knowledge. I _need_ the Uzumaki restored. And I have goals greater than you can ever imagine that I _must_ achieve. And no matter how powerful I am, I will need allies." Turning his back to the man behind, Naruto gave one last reply that chilled the very blood in Momochi Zabuza's veins. "Besides, you most certainly lack a choice in the matter. One way or another you _will_ aid me in this task."

It was through gritted teeth that Zabuza forced out a "Very well.", knowing that he lacked the strength to overcome the man before him.

At that moment, Naruto knew he had defeated Zabuza in the final stage of their battle. Dun-Moch was an old and powerful technique of the Sith, and a rather simple one as well, that focused on manipulating the opponent through actions and words alike. Normally, one would expect immediate results that were usually centered around sloppiness or wasteful attacks. In this case, Naruto needed to guarantee that Zabuza would not just kill himself to deny his knowledge to the young Sith. And rage, especially when you think your opponent has made a mistake, can lead to _extremely_ foolish actions.

Naruto could quite clearly feel the shinobi's anger through the fluctuations of his chakra. However, rather than attempting to slay him again, Zabuza would move to rejoin the rebels, warn them of his potential danger, and in doing so, bring Naruto closer to Yagura all the quicker. While there was the possibility of the rebels attempting to slay him in turn, the fact that he represented a legitimate opportunity to slay Yagura without losing dozens, if not hundreds, of men meant such a chance would come after the jinchuuriki was defeated, at a point where he himself would, theoretically, be exhausted and vulnerable. Such an attempt would in turn give him the chance to best the new Mizukage in battle, showing them exactly how any attempted assassinations would go, as well as giving him leverage to force their compliance in assisting him in searching for the Uzumaki and finding a fuinjutsu teacher. In the end, no matter what happened, assuming he was not slain, his position would be all the stronger. And he sincerely doubted that they would possess the strength to slay him. After all, they could barely contain the jinchuuriki of the three tails. Allowing himself a true, if small and rather sadistic, smile for the first time, Naruto realized why the Jedi _and_ Sith were such cryptic and manipulative bastards. It was one hell of a lot of fun!

 **Four Days Later**

Naruto strode forward, swiftly moving down the gangplank set in the rather rustic docks that was his final stop. Without turning, he noticed the three individuals, moderately better clothed than anyone else nearby, that had been striding towards him. It was plainly obvious that the three men were customs officers and it was just as plain from their swagger that they thought themselves above anyone else in the coastal village.

Taking only a moment to savor their faces, a rather impressive degree of paling and near comical eye widening, upon seeing his, Naruto simply strode through their little group. Amusingly one of them even fell backwards during their scramble to get out of his way. Though, to be fair, Naruto had to admit the fact that he looked like an oni, carried a sword larger than a human male, and wore clearly exotic armor. Frankly, anyone who did not run from him was likely either supremely arrogant or supremely foolish. Of course, the admission did nothing to curb the sneer that split his face.

"Zabuza, how long will it take for the rebels to make contact with you?"

Zabuza, who had previously been having a small chuckle as the officials had tripped over each other in their haste to escape took a moment to think. "Hmm, I'd say a day or two. Considering those idiots are probably going to go alert whatever shinobi were stationed here and I imagine you'll kill the lot."

Cocking a brow ridge, Naruto responded "Oh? And why do you think I would kill them?"

Turning to look at the red skinned giant next to him, Zabuza deadpanned "Because you're bored and they'll annoy you."

Nodding in agreement, the young Sith allowed a note of amusement to creep into his tone "Most likely."

As he finished speaking a volley of kunai and shuriken tore through the air in his and Zabuza's general direction. With a lazy gesture, Naruto unleashed a wave of air knocking the weapons from the sky. Turning towards the source of the weapons, he cocked a brow ridge. And then immediately had to stifle a chuckle at their faces.

All three wore looks of intense concentrations and it was quite obvious they had prepared themselves to engage in a truly epic battle. Naruto took a great amount of pleasure in simply launching a wave of red, toxic chakra chains at them. The faces of horror and pain that followed the agonized screams of all three men were absolutely hilarious. It took a truly immense act of will power to stop himself from bending over laughing. Why common soldiers thought they stood a chance in anything approaching a fair fight against even Zabuza escaped Naruto. However, it did remind him of the time when his father slew a thousand enemies in a single battle and Revan had cut through a few hundred low level dark Jedi during the Battle of the Star Forge. After all, those were common warriors who fought titans. This was no different.

Still, the faces of abject horror worn by the customs officers was more than a little pleasing. The fact that they had all vomited in disgust was a bit extreme though. Yes, the air was filled with the smell of melting flesh, yes his youki was rather toxic, and yes, he had ripped the shinobi into tiny pieces, but these were supposed to be officials of Mizu no Kuni! Naruto had expected them to at least be capable of handling a little violence.

So, with a sneer firmly affixed to his face, he walked off. After all, these were most certainly not _his_ people. Nor were they even serfs of his soon to be ally. What care did he have for these men and women.

Looking at the still smoldering remains of the three shinobi before him, Zabuza let a grimace over take his face. Those men may have been his enemy, but they were still shinobi of wave. It...irked him that the man whom he had brought to his nation had been the cause of such horror when they had only just arrived.

Had he not already been sure that the jinchuuriki was a monster in human form, these actions would have firmed his resolve. What was worse, was that Naruto seemed to be growing more violent as time passed as well. Back in Nami, he hadn't taken pleasure in killing the fat midget. Zabuza could tell he was barely holding back from mocking those dead men. For a moment, he felt self recrimination well up in him. What if he had unwittingly unleashed a monster far worse than Yagura upon his homeland? Sighing, he turned from the charred corpses. What was done was done. Never mind the possibility that the rebels might just be able to deal with both of them given the right opportunity…

Turning to see his companion looking at the cowering officials with a sneer, Zabuza walked over to Naruto, cleared his throat to get the man's attention and spoke, "Now that that's done, we should head on out. No doubt any rebels in the village know our affiliation now and I highly doubt we'll be able to find a place to stay anywhere near here."

"Perhaps. I felt a number of presences move away quite rapidly. Still, do you truly think the villagers would deny us a place to stay?" Now that his sneer had finally disappeared, a cocked brow ridge was the only hint of emotion on the Sith's face.

"Yeah. The reason we landed here was, supposedly, to hide the fact that we intended to join the rebels. This village has been affiliated with Yagura's forces since the beginning of the purges. It's why there were so few shinobi protecting it."

Zabuza felt his stomach twist a bit when he saw a glint enter into the giant's eye. A glint he'd seen in the eyes of shinobi before. Usually when they were taken by bloodlust. With a new undercurrent of rage of in his tone, Naruto spoke again, "And how did they prove their...dedication to Yagura's cause?"

Standing in silence for a few moments, to allow the villagers a head start if nothing else, Zabuza began his explanation. "The villagers granted a number of civilians with bloodlines safety in their village. And when Yagura's Oinin Butai arrived, they turned the lot over. The only words I have to say in their defense is that this village was pillaged by the Kaguya at the beginning of their rebellion."

Naruto, who had been staring at the backs of a number of retreating villagers, visibly processed this information. After a minute of waiting, the Sith came to a decision. "Since you seem to want to avoid a massacre here, I shall permit this incident to pass. But I strongly advise you to exterminate them later. Those who would kill others whom they had taken in are not to be trusted." Turning to face Zabuza, the nuke nin felt the tension and anger in the next words strike him like a blow. "You will _surely_ regret it if you let them live."

Even as the ominous words reached his ears, the man found himself entranced by the spinning patterns visible through the mask's eye slits. It was a small thing, but it seemed to Zabuza as if the boy was speaking from personal experience. And the situation spoke of an attempt at reconciliation. Or, at least a small promise to behave while in country.

Striding down a mostly mud path, Naruto contemplated his surroundings. So far **Mizu no Kuni** had been rather unpleasant. The place was far, far too wet for his tastes. All the humidity made his skin itch and every time he took a step the ground tried to drag him back down. Weighing nearly four hundred kilograms would make mud do that to you. He made sure not to complain about _that,_ though. Reinforced bones and redundant organs make someone a bitch to put down and considering the state of his homeworld, well, it would just be plain stupid to complain about being more difficult to murder. Though all of that was rather insignificant compared to what was, by far, the worst part: the stench.

Sea brine and fish isn't nearly as bad a stench as rotting corpses and excrement, but the seemingly endless swamplands that made up the interior smelled of nothing but rotting plant life and other, far less pleasant, things.

Of course, the fact that the air stunk like it did, combined with the regular storms that swept the area, meant that any guerillas hiding out in the region would be next to impossible to track down. By scent or sight, at least. That did nothing to conceal the dozen odd men and women who were tailing his little group.

He had found his least favorite environment. Both his former master and Lady Surik had assured him it would come one day and that it was an integral part of being a Jedi or Sith, though the two of them figured it would take a bit longer than this. Though, to be fair, Revan's absolute hatred of deserts and Surik's unflinching rage towards jungles made itself known very early on. Of course, Naruto imagined he would likely hold the same opinion if he had been required to track across Tatooine multiple times, while being shot at and ambushed by would be Sith, or spending six months playing "hide the lightsaber in the spleen" with mandalorian commandos on Dxun. In retrospect, this really was him just being rather bitchy.

With a mental sigh, Naruto actually began paying attention to the outside world again. At first he was mildly confused at the fact that the sun was setting and, apparently, his group had been walking for several hours. Subsequently, he then realized he had zoned out, again, while in the presence of potential hostiles, again. More than a bit embarrassed, not that he would ever display such undignified emotions, he decided to ask their guide a question that had been on his mind for quite some time. "Sir, would all eight of the men following us be yours, or are we liable to be ambushed at some point?"

With that single phrase, three very different sets of reactions occurred. The first, and mildest, was the widening of the eyes of Naruto's guide. The second was the immediate flurry of action within the surrounding tree line. Most of the aforementioned action was related to immediate volleys of weapons being thrown between the now revealed squads. The third, and final reaction, was a deep sigh from Momochi Zabuza.

Now standing in the middle of a muddy road, watching two squads of, likely, highly trained shinobi try to kill each other. Naruto had to fight to keep a frown of boredom off his face. "Zabuza-san, why are they ninja trying to kill each other?"

With an incredibly confused look on his face, and ignoring the part of his mind screaming at him not to respond to the red-skinned giant, Zabuza spoke very slowly and very clearly. "Well, I imagine one of the groups are rebel shinobi, while the other squad are probably loyal to Mizu."

"I get that, but my teachers said that every time I go into a new area I was probably going to be attacked by at least two or three groups of would be assassins. And that no one would try to help me until they were absolutely sure that it was beneficial. Which would probably only happen after they tried to kill me at least twice."

At this, Momochi Zabuza had to take a moment. While that may not seem strange, his companion's story actually convinced a veteran A-rank shinobi to turn his attention away from an ongoing battle, where at least four oinin aimed to slay him should they succeed, and stare in shock at the insanity the next to him seemed to be convinced was reasonable.

Yukimura Toshio knew this day had to come. He and his comrades had been following the two potential new allies when the worst had happened. The first was the legendary Momochi Zabuza, a man who had put his life on the line to gather resources and make contacts outside of Kiri for their cause. The other a...stranger. The man, if he was actually human, was a giant, easily two point seven meters tall, red skinned, and seemed to have _black bone spikes_ coming out of his arms. Both were at least A rank and if the stranger was an S rank, Toshio wouldn't have been surprised. Still, he and his men had failed.

The four oinin, lead by his childhood friend Shimizu Tamotsu, had managed to stalk his squad without being detected. Yamata had already fallen, the farmer's son no match for a veteran shinobi, Batu was bleeding out, and Yamachi was trying to hold in his own intestines. He, well he was pinned to the ground by his once friend. A tanto was pinning him to the ground and he felt the cold steel of a kunai pressing into his neck.

Cracking a smile, he spoke to his old friend one last time, "So, kouhai, you finally brought me down. Well, I knew you would surpass me one day. Really, I am glad it was you. Sorry it had to end this way."

Even through the mask Toshio could feel his old friend grimacing. It really didn't surprise him when a few words came out. "Senpai, you taught me everything. I owe you my life a dozen times over. I know why you did this. You saved all those lives back then. I want you to know that camp never re opened and those blood liners escaped. Die with dignity and may you find peace in the next life." The wounded rebel looked on as Tamotsu tensed and prepared to drive home the kunai now positioned between his ribs.

In the space of a heartbeat, everything changed. First, a massive foot struck Tamotsu, sending his old comrade flying. In the next second a scream rang out and, as he turned his head towards it, watched in horror as a claw was driven through the bottom of one of the oinin heads. A gurgling sound announced their bloody, bloody death. With a snap, a glowing chain, seemingly made of red chakra, lanced out towards the second enemy shinobi. Instead of piercing the man, it wrapped around him and began to tighten. In the space of three seconds the scream that had just started was cut off and replaced with a wet plop and loud cracks that broke the otherwise undisturbed silence.

With a calm stride the giant he and his men had been watching strode over to the still form of Tamotsu, casually taking a sword blow from the last oinin on his armored forearm. With an almost casual air he turned, grabbed the retreating arm, yanked it forward, and snapped out a clawed hand. The simple blow crushing the oinin's mask and ripping the man's face open. Even as the screaming shinobi tried to hold the strips of flesh together, the giant simply turned down to Tamotsu and _pushed_. With a wet pulping noise and a single, full body spasm, Tamotsu's rib cage collapsed. Strolling over to the final, now whimpering, oinin, the massacre was ended with a single kick, snapping the man's neck so far back it seemed to be half torn off.

With a wave of the giant's hand, a volley of red lightning sought he and his comrades bodies. As a sharp, sudden pain passed through his body, Toshio felt every ache and pain in his body disappear. He felt better than he had in a decade! Every little catch and pull, every tiny injury from his training, it was all gone! Turning about he noticed his comrades sitting up, looking either confused or terrified.

Craning his neck, he looked up at the giant now standing above him. Now that the shock of his survival was starting to wear off, he felt a rush of emotions, mostly relief and sorrow, but he was far from stupid enough to feel anger. The giant was _definitely_ an S-rank. And by the way he butchered those oinin, he was a _hard_ S rank at that. Of course, that didn't help anything when his baritone ground out an incredibly simple question.

"The hostiles are slain, why are you still laying on the ground?"

Toshio, unsure of how long the giant's patience would last, scrambled to his feet. Knowing that the man would likely want to continue moving, he gathered his comrades, promising his men they'd talk about what happened later, and got the group moving.

 **Three Days Later**

Naruto was pleased. Once their escorts no longer had to hide, and their guide was free to "reveal" his shinobi training, their whole force moved much, much more quickly. In fact, they were finally coming up to the main hideout.

Of course, they would not normally bring an unknown such as himself into such a vital location, far too much of a risk. That changed very, very dramatically when the first rebel officer, a man named Ao, who quite interestingly possessed an implanted byakugan, heard about Naruto's seemingly miraculous powers of healing.

Obviously, he had demanded a demonstration, and after Naruto had saved a man whose arm should have been lost, he was far, far more trusting. Apparently, with most of medical technology in this world being barely on the level of an industrialized third world country, the general lack of resources that comes with being a rebel group short on just about everything, and a serious dearth of Iryo-nin, someone like him was worth his weight in gold. Quite literally if all he wanted was to be payed for healing their wounded.

Still, the incident had not been without its mild annoyances. It turned out that his ability to heal with **dark transference** was inversely proportional to his subject's chakra reserves. And while he was thankful that he, personally, seemed to be an exception, the fact that it took far, far too much out of him to smooth out the imperfections in Ao's implanted doujutsu was disconcerting. Frankly, he was likely being a bit childish, but with the ongoing trainwreck that was his **force healing** training, and he did try to get as much practice as he could, Naruto would have greatly preferred an absolute. But, he would have to make do with what he had.

With a sudden cry of "Halt!", that was rather anticipated considering that the rebels were still qute detectable to a chakra sensor, Naruto found his party stopping for, hopefully, the last time. It was to his rather great surprise when a red haired woman, quite clearly an Uzumaki if her chakra reserves were anything to go by, stepped out of a small building, a hut really, and promptly inclined her head. Not enough to show submissiveness, but enough to show respect. To Naruto, this was enough. For now.

"Welcome, stranger, to our headquarters. And Zabuza-san, I am quite glad you have returned. And I see you've more than fulfilled your goal of ending Yagura's reign if any of what my men claimed was true."

With a snort, Zabuza stepped forward, "He isn't dead yet. Besides, Naruto here is probably going to demand you hand half the village's children over to him to train. Well, that, and any relics he wants. Probably the seven swords at that."

Terumi Mei was a smart woman, one who prided herself on being a good judge of character, and, as much as she could be considering her profession, a good person. She, however, did not believe the gods were real, much less capable of incarnating themselves in this world and blazing a trail of death and justice through the worst parts of Hi no Kuni. So, as any sane person would, she took the reports of an eight foot tall kami, supposedly created by the destruction of Uzushiogakure, with more than a grain of salt.

When she saw the now nearly nine foot tall, red skinned oni standing in front of her, wearing foreign armor, seemingly unarmed, and looking somewhat bored, she pulsed her chakra. Twice.

That is not to say she was unprepared for this meeting, quite the contrary. At all three rebel outposts the group had passed, all members of the rebel forces belonging to the escort and Zabuza had been debriefed, checked by their closest approximation of competent medical personnel for any form of tampering, and then purged of all foreign substances and chakra just to be sure, and they still reported that the man, if he could be called that, could heal with a wave of his hand, rip oinin apart like they were fresh genin, and never seemed to sleep or eat in their presence.

She was somewhat distressed. Mostly because there was no way in hell that her luck was nearly this good.

Still, after she confirmed he was real and had greeted him, mildly insulted Zabuza, and then took a moment to consider what the nukenin had said. She should probably make sure that Naruto didn't take offense to the man's rough manners. Especially since he seemed to actually be strong enough to both be an Uzumaki and, quite possibly, a jinchuuriki as well. If the quality of his chakra was any indicator at least.

She did, however, all herself to take a moment and consider what would happen if he and Hoshigaki Kisame met. Probably get drunk, get into a fight and promptly level half of kiri.

Clearing her head, she focussed on the moment and decided to observe the necessary formalities. "I thank you for your aid and I wish to forward the gratitude of my men whom you have helped. I am Terumi Mei and you are Uzumaki Naruto. Again, I welcome you."

The...man walked a few paces closer. It surprised her somewhat at the grace the man moved with. She expected him to be somewhat stiff as even shinobi have a limit to their flexibility and considering his size...Well, chakra wasn't magic.

Moving slowly, he removed his mask, and even with her near perfect skills of diplomacy she couldn't stop the minute widening of her eyes at the oni's, as he was clearly not a man, face….tentacle...things. She actually had to stifle a gasp when his lip curled up in small grin, exposing _black teeth_.

With a chuckle, Naruto spoke, "Yes, yes. I know my appearance is quite shocking. I assure you I am aware of how I look. So go ahead and let your men get it all out of their systems. However, I would greatly appreciate it if I did not come across them henged as myself."

Recognizing the olive branch for what it was, she quickly put his features to memory: his hair was formed into long dreadlocks, adorned with a few paper charms for good luck and a pair of silver bells were tied into them. HIs face was formed of broad, flat planes with sharp edges. A face far too rough to be called handsome, but he seemed to look the part of a barbarian of old, excepting the pitch black eyes, lacking any other features, the red skin, and face tentacles. Mei, again, had to suppress a shudder when she noticed the tendrils, which hung a down to where his collarbone would be, curl and move slightly. However, the most clearly alien features were the bun spurs forming his chin, a pair of small black, bony horns just starting to creep past his hairline, and a pair of cartilaginous ridges where his eyebrows should have been. All of this was, of course, ignoring the large, black spikes coming from his elbows.

Clearing her throat, she spoke, "Uzumaki-san, I must say, you cut quite the striking figure. Still, I imagine you and your companions must be quite tired. I have had suitable accommodations prepared for you. If you would follow me, I'll show you to where you'll be staying." Without waiting to see if he would ask questions, Mei turned and began walking away from the main entrance to the rebels base.

As she walked away four rebel shinobi fell into position around her. Normally, the four specialized shinobi, all masters of defensive earth and water style techniques, gave her a small feeling of security. Not too much of course, she was a kunoichi. But her….guest was more than a little disconcerting. His chakra was, in a word, overwhelming. Mei could feel how tightly he had bound his own presence, he almost seemed to possess civilian level reserves if one only looked at the apparent size of reserves.

However, his chakra lingered. Instead of dispersing after he moved on, it remained, and it almost….tainted the land behind it. It was, ironically, a simple enough method of tracking him, even if it would require someone to already be somewhat familiar with him and to be looking for the very minute traces he left behind.

Of course, this wasn't the disturbing part. What bothered her was that the only other time she had seen something like this was after Yagura had unleashed the full might of the sanbi. Mei still remembered that event.

Right after Yagura had been attacked by Zabuza, he had manifested his biju completely as a dozen odd attempts on his life came on after another. It had been an almost abortive start to the rebellion as the various disconnected factions had made their own separate attempts, almost attacking each other in the process. Dozens of their best had been killed in minutes. And it was largely the memory of that day that kept the majority Kirigakure's remaining shinobi from defecting or outright leaving the village all together.

Seeing hundreds of jounin and chunin die screaming at the hands of a massive, demonic tortoise was a hell of motivator to keep you heads down and eyes forward. If nothing else, it sure as hell plugged a lot of potential leaks.

The idea of something that leaked chakra like a biju was rather….unsettling. However, the being was unbelievably arrogant if the way he acted, sparing Zabuza as he did and then taunting the man, and then walking into Kiri's territory without support or a guarantee of any kind. No, she could work with this. No matter how powerful he was, he was still a man, and men can be played.

Perhaps the simplest thing to do would to have him heal the wounded they have now and then send him on a rampage through the less important parts of Mizu. That would force Yagura to either send his best, and suffer a loss he could ill afford, or confront his rival jinchuuriki head on. Unless, of course, he was willing to suffer the loss of income and face that such a rampage would cause. And considering how tentative the daimyo's support was for his reign right now, he could win this war just to have his people starve.

With a smile, a bit too predatory to be friendly, and with a bit too much of a purr in her voice to be anything but clearly seductive, Mei Terumi set about to restore order in Kiri and crush two threats to the land she loved. "Uzumaki-san, while we are honoured by your willingness to help us, perhaps it would be best if you took your rest first. After all, you have not slept once during the whole of you journey. It wouldn't do for you to collapse in the middle of treating our wounded comrades, would it not?"

Turning to look at the man behind her, she realized she may have made a mistake. Looking into his black, predatory eyes, she saw something terrible. In the inky depths there were glimmers of red and a promise of something beyond her most horrific nightmares. Terumi Mei realized the mere act of flirting with him had aroused something mighty and merciless within him. In that moment she felt as if her time had comed.

And then it passed. The moment of danger ended and still looking into his eyes, physically incapable of turning away, she realized that he knew what she had planned. It chilled her when, with a smirk, he next spoke. "I appreciate the offer….Mizukage- _sama_. But it would reflect poorly on me to rest while others suffer. At least, so long as I might alleviate their suffering with little more than a wave of my hand. So, if you would be so kind, might you lead me to my prospective patients?"

Mei could almost feel the gloating challenge in the tone of his voice. He was ready for anything she could throw at him and it did not bolster her confidence when he mocked her title. Of course it warmed her heart when her men tensed at the insult, but she knew it would be _extremely_ stupid to pick a fight with a jinchuuriki in her own base.

Inclining her head ever so slightly, she granted his wish. "Lee-san, would you kindly escort our new friend to the infirmary. And as soon as he's finished, take him wherever he needs to go." Her tone made the question an order and it was more than understood where he would not be permitted. So with a quick "Hai, Mizukage-dono", Lee and his compatriots, normally Mei's bodyguard, led the still smirking giant away from her.

Ao, speaking up for the first time in the whole discussion, summed up Mei's thoughts far, far too accurately. "Back in my day, the bijuu were locked up inside the jinchuuriki. I guess nowadays it's just the fashion to have a bunch of monsters running around."

Frowning, Mei's response surprised her oldest friend. "Ao, I think I may have fucked up."

 **A.N. I really hope you guys like this. I re wrote the chapter a few times and it originally was much, MUCH darker than this. I blame that on my mood shifting every few times. My dad is still in jail and my younger siblings are in a bad place over it. Thankfully I'm old enough to muddle through life and not let it be overly bothersome, but it still gets me that it upsets them, yah dig?**

 **Anyways, a few fun things. The whole Uzumaki-Namikaze thing is mostly because he's still 11 and he wants to honor both his parents. No, the Namikaze aren't a clan in this story, though I point out that Japanese did have a few duel family names. Mostly to differentiate themselves from nearby families that had the same name but no relation, but I digress.**

 **As for the chapter itself, I really want you guy's opinion on whether or not I captured his puberty well. I wanted him to come off as arrogant more than once, mostly because he's only ever been bested by one person (Revan) who is now dead. Don't worry though, he's gonna get a bit of a wake up call next chapter!**

 **P.S. Let me know if the Wave scene was too cheesy. I was trying to make it earnest, but I am absolutely terrible at dialogue in general.**


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